IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1.1 L£12.8 2? lag "— Sf U£ |2.0 HE9 ■ 2.2 1^ Ki Hiotographic Sciences Corporation ^: ^\ 19 MIST MAIN STMIT WIUTM.N.Y. 14SM (71*) •73-4S03 r ■*», .jT'tSn M .!,M "W._ »W"'4 :-tr. >'Xi,lJ«5 '.%■• ^ ,M. f ■^k 4» ,(^ - -1 .V POiltICA ^!pto OF B R I T A J Ni O R, A N IMfA^riAL HISTORY AlllJSES lii THE GOVERNMENT*^^ 1ISSKMPIR% Ev&OPB, AsiA«l|^MD AMt»IC*{ ^ . , nom THE Ul«HEfl)» /Jf^PB, Ttf TBS PXIMfr j|##«* THXWHOLX TEN0Ii|«W!»f»OVI TIT* »WIKOU« COl»«1^0«i»C»t T|fi rOPUlAi ijfltl^ TAXAtrON, WAR, AW* C«»«|r»IT* " The WwWt Mad Bufimfs." MklMMI *. %"!# ^ . PARI FIRST. lti|KT>» PHtLADELPHIAt WfttetiY df BEKRiMAN, for w. ■YouM*. Chefmi| ^iLtHtNew-YM-k, and A. KKBDiR, BBlUiMrt. M»»««tKCiV. T.' r -a*. %S»^ii I' \ .# .^v ■^ 67B I 06 if Q I . 1%^ siifssmmmmtsammtimgm^ A D V Et f ts E M E N T,^ «*;» Mi, liiHed at £4ii^^iii|gh iM)4 Ixmdoi^ in 4^ i7f ^ fakrm ayetjr, jw4^|pfDlbea of fatoii^ fue(!t|^ l!«t%|ri|| pl«ti j^Mi to gifc an impttviul Htftorjr Mtlie i^ib'tii govii in ft|lries Of ptn|ri^etg. Bot, wbile the aiitli^ unit pi "'' the |||efi> a (eeoad noml^, ahmg witt vt oev eQdkfeBen»;who aA^pfi tori||^erepro%;«ted, and aftef f veij^ arbitraiy trial»^lwi < to thite nHxtthttittd ^iibther to 1^ lii »tc|tit|oi wiU takcf placein Scotlaiid bei at famief^) and moil m;el/ much fcmms 11 then ceminl^ think itfdr boundTby evu^ tit i fgrat^e, and df jaMce, to Slake icparatioa to tll|fe^ |n, iPthet^jfannyiKhich th^y have enconntl^iiliit^ m In Britain, aathdnofppmpklcti hav^bibf coi *"* * t»km revolation. They compofe a kind Wht^. rti or hattle ; and thongh thejr may dften want in0uenGe toj^arfhal the nmn bodiy) they yet enjoy the^ ""tte danger of the fitft rank, in ftori^ung the rampat' ' Th«iirerdia of a |»cked jury, did not alter ihe ^ who had approved of the pubhcation. F1?e tiiiiei ti hath, fittoe in fuppre^idn, been oflfefed in Edinbui^ ^ At London» a new edition was printed by Rideeway tiii $5 two bpokfellerst confined in Newgate, for pubUrhing poUticat ings. Thejr iell the pamphlet, and others of the fametewj openly in priibn. It is next to impoffible, for defpotii^i t^, whelm the divine art of printing. A copy of the firft edition was handed to Mr. Jeflreifdni American Secretary of State. He fpokc of it, on diffew *' fioos, kl Rfpe^ful terms. He faid, that it contained ** ( ** tACK)iiaangC0ttcenf ration of abufes, that he had ever heard *• government."' Other gentlemen have delivered their opil the fame cf&&.', and their encouraffenent was one caufe ai^xsarance of this American edition. In preparing it prefs, a muhiplicity of new materials prefcnted thentfeli the recblledUon of the writer. Hence the Introdu^ fwelled to more than its former fize. By indulgini <^. ei4afginff| at he went on, the author has foui U% to |p*j>tint the whole of the original paraj I 4 J ^gned. ^ When he came to examine hb perTormaifl at the ^HC" 1^ of two 3reare, he.ravtr many topics ox importance that hoA ^bnt flightly touched ; an| wb^cever related to his na^ve jrjf^he was anxiovsto make as perfr.'^ as polfible. Infteady thi^ie- ^f)f ^orreding an old work» he has iii a great meafnre fonned one ; but.^to preferve the wtitj of compoGtion, he has ava|i|{^4 Ifntiotoffa^y or any i^feFence to publUationsj pofteiioi lipjihe 1$the Intinidu^ltQn. A mixture of t^ kind would have^eiOn- itnanrative. The reader is here presented with 4 kind ^ori- '~iund |dah; of thole follies and crimes of governmenti JHiich filift foundation of a Britifh)i and in parftcular, of a^ots Ion. This little volume^ formsa general introduffpn to fal of thofe trials at Edinburgh, for fedition, that have nted, and to thofe others for hi^ treafoui that wiH pofii- foOnt»rinted, in the United States. ^ yrHmi wal at firft intended for that cla(s of p(ii^;^a' |Ad iCh time to fpend in readings and who wantdfa fimi, but 'id meal of p(Dlitical information. The h.&a ate Ihere^Kre together as clofely as poffible. All the coquetry ^aiit)%^ been avoided. The ambition of the writfsr was ^» be calw AfBc&ed, and intelligible; becaufe troth is the bafisl^ fonid t» fimplicity the foul of el^ance, and perfpicUity ^e touch-ftone of accurate cosnpontion. • port was circulated and believed) in Scotland) that this pro- I came, in reality^ from the pen of one of the ^ges m the 'of feiljipn. The charge was unjuft. His lordfhip did not a itngle page of it ; but he faid openly, that its contents were entic) an4 unanfwerable ; and that the public were welcome to it his. . r the ext.eme raflinefs of his original plan, the writer can- o&tt an apology that prudence will accept. A Ihort f^ory may^ I) convey the motives of his condudl. In 17(8, the duke rlborough) with eighteen thoufand men^ landed on the of France. The troops, when difembarking, were oppofed by 'leach battery, which was immediately iilcnced, for it confided of an old man, armed with two inuflcets. He was jlightly d in the leg, and made prifoncr. I'he Englifh alked him >heexpe^ed, with two muikets, to.filence the fire of their fl *• Genllcmen," he replied, " I have only done my duty ; if all my countrymen here, had aded like me, you would ^is day have landed at Cancalle." lfl!.4pF'LrHiA, AW. 14, I794> I N T R O rj U d T I O N- iBfBriAfik noartjinet the Revohovm^Imminfe JlaugUir—E. wan—'Nootka Snmd-^atakow — Tippoo Saib — Amounty/fNt^'n al dtbh^Enormoiu ext(nU ^ k* interefl m the next century-^Scimda termiM which ii'waijufi eoatfOaed^Sketch of the civil lifi of H^ Sam IIL^Pr^gaU ei^diSture of the court — Hints for royisit eK»T vomj^-^^tftmjmie^yf Jingle ff Olid efthirty^/^ miOion/J^r-'^ L9ttenes''-^0rl of Cbathan^pecmen of Britijh tcuca^ North-^ISi estlravagant premium for money — ScheniePof pa^g pi^ deH-^Its futitity — Uniform tifurdity ^modentS^Jb^^i Chifra^er dud defign of this wdtii SINQE the year one thouiand fix hundred and eiglity^ig}%'j Bplain has been qnceat war with Holland, five tifl^cs at Waij with France, and fix times at war with Spain. The exptilfion, itM flight oi Janiin the Second prodi^ced a bloody civil war both |Sb| Scotland and.lrehmd. Since that time j we have alfo been difturbra;| with two rdbdlions in Britain, befidesah endlefscatalogne of pid9S|-j cr^^in Afiaand Ametica. In Europe, the once vr^dbl^lK,/ vanee for a war hatfi fuc(feffively extended from one'|p||p^ tni iand lives, to thrice that number ; and from thirty to^ lii hoift|t and thirty-nine millions fterling. From Africa, we import anni]^ ally between thirty and forty thouiand (laves, which riles, in thi courft q{ a century, to at lean three millions of murthef^. In*Beiii> f^oalf, we deftroyed or expelled, within the (ho>rt jieric^d of filf^ tearf^, five nfifliona of induftrious and imtocent people* ;' vi^ hav been fover^Hins of high rank in that couhtry for about thirty-fii ireara; and there ia reafon to compute that, unce our elevation, w nave ftrewe^ th^ pkins of Hindoftan', with thirty-fix niillions on carcafeaf . Combining the diverfified ravages of famine, peililenc^, 1 and the fword, it may juftly be fuppofed, that in thefe ti-anfadtions,,] fifteen hundred ihoufan^of our countrymen have perifhed ; a numw| ber equal to that part of the whole inhabitants of Britain who are at j prefiMt able to bear arms. The deftrudion of our French and Spa^jj niih ai^gonifts, and of German, Sardinian, and Portugucfe merce«| nariet purchafed by Britain to fight againft them, has amount- ed ,to at leait a fecond fifteen hundred thoufand lives. Hence '^ follows, that Britifii quarrels have (deprived this fingic quartt of the world of three millions of men in the flower of life, whc Aefeendants, in the progrefs of domeftic focicty, muft have • DiriHi Hiftorj of Hindoftao, quarto editioa, vol. III. p. 70, ^:..^ f Infn. Chap* |4 - ^^ ^r ( ^ ) |>^ itoto muItitudcB beyoud calculation. The perfons deftroyed have, >in whole, certainly exceeded thirty millions, that is to fay, three hundred thoufiind ^As of honlicijle >0r d^um.. Thefe viAimt ^ have been facrificed to the balance of power, and the balance of I tilde, the honour of the Britiih flag, the rights of the Bntifli b: irowfl, the *< mnmpQtmee of ParUament*," and the fccurity of the ^Froteftant fucceifion. Proceedtog at thia rate for another century, •we may, with that felf-complaceacy> which is natural to mankind, idmire oupfelves^ and our atchievments ; but every other hation in the world muft be entitled to wi(h that an eart^^uuke or a volcano I:, flioidd M bury the whole Britifh iflaoda ^^pP'^lMp^c centre of ll^^obe; thatafingle, but decifive exertion ^f^Hhmghtyven- ^lll^nce ihould terminate the progrels and the reniSEMpB of our Jn the (bale of juft calculation, the moft valuable commodity, pt to human blood is money. Having made a grofs eftimate of 1^ wafte of the former, let us endeavour to compute the confump- '^ of the latter. The e«pences of Britifh wars, from the revo- i to the end of the year 1789* has beeii ftated by Sir John lirf at three hundred and ieventy-feven miBionSi twenty>nine l^ufiind, five hundred and ninety>eight ponnda iler^ng. Since |^« pi^ication, a fleet has been armed u^ainft Spaii^ to enforce !* -^ ' • gf killing whales at the fouth pole, and wild oits at kance«^, Bythe account of the mini^r himfelf, as jiid bclQX|i)di^ei|t| the afi^r coft ua three millions, one hun- |h^ and thirly-threqwufand pounds,;): In poisit of ceconomy, ||his prqie^ refembled the commencement of alaw-fuit in chancery, 1p recover half a crown. We have iince quarreOed with Catharine >f Ri^fila,. for a few acres in t^e deiarts of Tartary ; and the charges of this fecond armament muil alfo have bee? yury confidcra- 1^. At prefent,-wc arc tearing afuodcz thedomiqifi^ of Tipoo J Saib ; and Mr. Fo3( lately faid m the hcmfe of coai^nt, that this p war goes on, at an expence to ourfelves of two hahdred and fifty I^QuIand pounds llerling per month, or about eight thoufand guineas * This moded phrafe was current before tti« Amerk^n iSnce that time, been laid afide. f Hiftory of the public revenue of tlie Britifli empire, purt :"The parliculars are as follows, viz. Espencesof war during the reign ot William III. : QMen Anne .... feCeoiie I - . ^ ., jExpence of the war began anno 1739 - . ■^Dittoof the war begun anno 1756 . . '"^ittoof the American war • • . fthearmamentrcfpedting Holland, in 1787 * revobitioQ. IthiUb, III. chap, ad* — T" «c. 30,447.38* 43.3 ^»o®3 ^,048,»67 46,4111,689 111,171,996 >39»»7»»82fr 3«i,3*5 fc|lifir ApnualRegifter, for 1791. p. 141. Totol £, 377»o»M9» ( 7 ) perdaV". Comprehending thefe fircih exploitSj the amount of niottl debumd ftom the exdnjcquery on account of war iince the remliipl tiooi muft exceed three hundred and eighty millions iledinff. We ate ; alfo to fubjoin the price of fixteeaor twenty thoufand merchant jSwm taken by the enemy, 'this diminutive aiticle of fixty or an htt^,^ dred miiUona fterling would ha.vt been fufficicnt for tHmfportittjll and iettling eight or twelve hundred thoufand fanners, with theif | wives add children, on the banks of the Sufquehannah or the K{i& fifippi* So mtoocrous a colony of cuftomers could well have been fpared fro tulii jBt^tiofis of Europe* They would foon have riva^ led the Wj/Kf^^i^ iFrancci and have required a greater quantl of nmnM|H|pwan this iHand has ever prepared for exportlti Infteadt^iPllpiMnfortable a profpedy we are, as a nation. ind^b| to the (ktlt^ of at leafl: two hundred and fifty millions, annual iliCereft of this fum, the neceflary expences of m.anagei and of colle£iing the revenue that defrays it, are all together al eUvenHuUioiu and an half ^Rng, This burden is equinueat to#: yeaily polLtax of one pound three (hiUings flerling per h^ad* upcn every individual inhabitant of Britain.* Befides what we pty ^ prelent upon this account* it is worth while to notice what have paid already. From the revolution to the year 1789) I five, the intereft of the public debts, and of the public loam ioclui^ng other incidental articles conne6ted with thef<$.iW-^.-^-^ hasbeen three hundred.and ninety millions, two hflnife^a and^, ftnty'flx thoufand, five hundred and feventy nine pounds.f ^ But this is a trifle compared with the turns of intereft thai nufft discharge in the next hundred years. The burden hath n( irifen to eleven millions, and five hundred thoufand ppunds ftertt. ^ per annum. Six yearly payments only, from the ift of januat^j 1793, to the I ft of January 1798, indufive, with compound ii reft at five per cent, amount to eighty miltions, nine hundred ^ty-fbur thoufand, three hundred mux forty feven poundis, fouT] * In an afFahr of f* much inportance, the utmod accuracy may be pe£led. The exaft imwunt of the debt, as ftated by Sir J«hn Sinclair, is two iitth\ tfrtJaf/4/irty./(n/tM mil/iom, nine hundred and elghtf~<,tu tboufandt nine hundrea^ Md tv/etUy-Jevttt poundsf fivejhillingt and tnvo-pence. Hiftory of the public reve- SRie, Part III. cbap. r. In another place* near the end of (he fame chapter, he| has tliftfe word». ** Thus, including the finking fand, and the intereft of our 1 ** lifilidated claifns, oar public dehts, at prefent require the fom of ten mlUion^t^ f* hundred and thirty-tivo thoufand^ one hundred and ninety.one pounds fouru Jkil/ingtt and'^bree half. fence per annum." The expence of coUcding thi fOfti^xxi proportion to that onf the whole Britiili revenue, i? about aine hundred thot JTaad pounds a year, which, added t« the intereft itfelf, gives the eleven millions 1 an luili^ ftated in the iezf. 'i'he preface to the volume here ({uotcd, bears date jQ^of January 1700. The Spanilh and RuflSan fquahbks took place a ft| Mnedinif eftiirtafe had been ma^t of the extent of the national debt; ffl nins pMB^oncd in the leit are, both as to the principal and tike annuft^ fnth about the fadi, even after deducing what Mr. fitt may have m^iitt f Ibid. Fat( III. chap ad, ^^ IhfUings and three*pence. ^ The reader may profecute the (eries of figures to the end of the next century. He win then difcover that leveral myriads of millions fterlingare not for that time alonetcqusd to the prefliire of this enormous load. We far excel th^ Greeks and Romans in the arts of induftry, and the refources of Jnrealth ; but it would be vain to fearch among, ancient nations* for kmy inftance correfpondent with Britifh debts, and Britiik folly. It is an objedt of the higheft curiofity and importance for every one of us, to enquire, on whait account fuch aftonifhlng funis have expended? ' ined ; here in- ofthe been borrowed j and by what methods they have i^ the courfe of this work, eaca of thefe queries w: ^ut^in the mean time, a few detached particidars ferted to ailiil the reader informing a conception of tmfinefs. - • ..,,.. In the war of 1689, that feed-bed of the future calamities of Britain, .money was bdrrowed [upotf annuities for lives. '* Four* ** teen per cent, was granted for one life, twelve per cent, for twd *• lives, and ten j^ cent, for three. Such t^rms were, in thelngheft '^* degree extravagant f particularly as no attention was paid to <^ ^yjerenceofages*"^ '■ ' \ - ; 'The fame author adds, on the authority of Dr. Price, that '4! borrowing at the rate of twelve /^r cettt, for tWo lives, and tea -^ Peffeoft, fot three, 'is giving ten per cent, for money in the one '<* cajfe, a^d n\nt pet cent, in tne'other."f From 1690, to the end of the War, the hmorian fays, that ** eight pircent. was uniformly ** paid." To r^ife a farther fum upon thefe annuities, another expedient was in the fequel embraced. The annuitants were offei'- ed a reverfionary intereft, after the &ilure of their lives* for mnety' Jix years f to be reckoned from January, 1695, on their paying only four and a half year's purchafe, or fixty-three pounds for ^very annuity of fourteen pounds. In 1698* the demand was re- duced to four years purdiafe!; or fifty^fix pOUnds, foi^ the annuity of fourteen. For our ferther fatisfadion, " the , fame fyftem ** was afterwards adopted in the ^eign of Queen Anne.''^ Som^ of thefe annuities remam at this day *' to the amount of one hun- dred and thirty-one thoufand,. two hundred and three pounds, feven (hillings and eight pence /rr tfmitim, for which the fum OJT one million, eight hundred and thirty-Hx thoufand, two hundre^ and feventy-iive pound^, feventeen (hillings' and ten pence three farthings had been originally contributed ; and lor the ufe o( whichi the public muft pay above thirteen nuUioni before they «« are all extina."J But even all this was only a part of the evil. " Davenant af- firms, that the debt of the nation was fwelled more by ingkprmi* than even by the exorbitant intereft that was paid ; and that <« a harmlefs bnt nklehwttfAt, Jin maulriJ Md ibitij/f^bt tboujand ^uttds» Fifty>tbree thou(u)d CKbtmv, at twelve p6undfi eacn» might have been relieved from prifon by this motiej ; or a ^id might have been eftabliflied with it» for the annual ducltairgft a thoufand prifoners of that kind on the birth'day of his Mjel- , and an equal number on the day, when he figned a warrant for mai&cre of Glenco. Secret fervice8> feven hundred and Jeoenty' thoufand pounds. Fees and (alaries, eight bmidfed and jfif-ngi* ifattd ptnmd*. Peniions and annuities, fix hundred and dghty-fin \t^Mjfaad pounds. Cofferer of the houfeho1d» thirteen mmdred thoU' ' pounds. In '^ the end of the laft centurV, one Shilling t farther than three can go now ; fo that this fufik was in tty equal to four millions at this day. The king of £ng« therefore fpent what correfponds to three hundred thou* ponnds/rr dawm on his houfchf^d'for thirteen years, while^ durii^ a conliderable part of his reigr.« his fubjefts by thouianda ind ten thoufands expired of hunger*. To the peymafter of dw works, ye«r hundred andfeventyfour thoufand ponndt. The whole b^ extends to eight millions, eight hundred, and eighty thoufand pounds ; and it does not appear that one fourth part of it was ex- pended, for wife and ufeful purpofes.f This was the frugality of Ibe government, at a time, when they were compelled to borfOMf i||oney, at tcnpercera. In the next reign, the fyftem wa^ qot much improved. An Eft* gnih houfe of commons informed Queen Anne that *< there rc- ^ main.'d at Chriftmas 1710, thtrty^e millions, three hundred ** and two thoufiind, one hundred and feven pounds of public mo* *' ney unaccounted for. "I In 1714, one million eight hundred and feventy-fix thoufand pounds were raiiied by a lottery. Out of this {um,/our hundred and fiven^-JiM.thouJimd pounds nftrt diftribut- ed among the proprietors of the fortunate tickets. This was 4 "premium of about thirty-four /rrfrti/. on the fum actually receiv- ed.^ During the war of 1 739, the charter of the Eaft-India con- pany was prolonged from 1 776 to 1 780. This was an antictpatioqi of i«venty three years. The value of the compenfation granted by the company to government, did not exceed thirty thooftMd pounds.^! This v^ras like Efau felling his birth-right for a mefs of pottage. If the bargain had been deferred, till the expiration of the former monopoly, perhaps forty times that fum could have bcen^obtaincd. * Infra chap. r. -f Siiteen hundred and fcventy founda for the widows of sfficsrt, appesr Hkf FsUMT'i half-penny worth cf bread, in a corner of one article. 1 tlfflory of the public reveniiei Tait n. chap. 4. S Ihii. I Ibid. ■■*. ( n » Sir Jokn Sinclair gitet a <* geneisl view of primiums upon the ** new loani/^ in the war of 1756.* Thefe premiums amount in value to foiirtten milBoiu, two btmdred md agbty-three thou/and, mne Imidnd imd fewntyjiw potmdt ^hig. The total fum borrowed* and added to the national debt, for this premium, was^ feventy-two millions, one hundred and eleven thoufand, and four pounds. Th^ premium is, within a perfcA triHe, one Jifih jbart of the whole mo- ney obtained. Thus, out of every twenty millings of the loan, we give back four (hillings as a reward for the lender. At this ratc;^ tm Britiih armies conquered Guadaloupe and Canada; and we con« tinue to boaft of the glory of thefe ex|rioits. Yet a perfon. mighty with as much reafon, bum his houfe, for the fake of rqaftin^ av - egg in its alhes. We may fuppofe, that the reft of the national debt was created upon terms at leaft equally hard ; and the fifth part of the whole two hundred and fifty miUions contra£led, gives a premium of fifty millions sterlikg. After fuch work, it tt not wonderful, that we are now harnefTed in debts and taxes, like horfetin a carriage ; that one thirJ part of the expences of a family confift in the payment of public burdens ; that five hundred thou* fand people in England are fupported by charity ;f that we muft give twentythree thou^ fand pou'uls. In two years and an half, he had purchafed a fmall pait of it ; hut the parade that he made about this operation, raifed the ptice i)ithe remaining Jlock to one hundred and twenty-two miU lions, four hundred and twenty thoufand pounds. The fequelji ia * Of th« original ceimnrncement of ihii debt, thechara£^n, wiotivei, nnd emo- lumenti of its aiHhen, the reader may find an authentic hiltorj in the Political Fr^ gfi/t, Part 1 1 . which will appear in a few monthi. ( *l ) 06obeT 1788) was, that the ^mifter had expended or fonk /wledgedt in fa- vour of Mr. Pitt) that while he has augmented the prindpal fam of the national debt» he has reduced the annual payment of intereft*'; The three millions and fix hundred thoufand pounds of thiee fer cfnts which are paid oS, coil formerly, one hundred and eight thoufand pounds //r a»««m ofintereftj which is now extinguiihedi This is the fole advantage arifing to the public from the tranfaAimu But there was a (liortcr way to have come at this fame purpofe. Mr; Pitt and his parliament ought to have ftruck from the civil lift a number of ufelefs peniioners, fuch for example, as the groom of the ftole, the mafter of the horfe, the mafter of the robes, the mailer of the hawks, twelve lords, and twelve grooms of the bed-chf mberi twenty-ifour preachers in his majeily's chapel at Whitehall, and the nvet nnrfts of the prince of Wales and the duke of Y(vk+. Inftead of abolilhing ufelefs places, to difcharge this annuity, Mr. Pitt fqueezed out of the people two millions and feven hundred thou- fand pounds, which, with the expence of colledling it, comes to at leail three millions llerling. The extin^ion of a burden of one hundred and eight thoufand pounds per awtum has thus cod more than it is worth. At four and an half /.t cent, three millions produce one hundred and thirty-iive thoufand pounds per annum ; which 11 itfelf nineteen thoufand pounds more than the annnifj ex/ingn^ed. Here we muft obferve, that ten per cent, is but a moderate aid ordi- nary profit on the capital of ftock, either in huibandry, commercey or manufaAures. Hence, if thefe three millions had been fullered to remain in the hands of the pebple of Britain, they would have afforded to the community at large, at leail three hundred thoufand pounds per annum of additional wealth ; and perhaps twice or thrice that fum. The ilighteft and moil neceilary taxes, are, therefore, ia their own nature very deftrudive. When a tobacconiil, or a tan. ner, pays thirty pounds of excife, he does not merelv lofe thirty (hillings /cr iz«M«M, as the legal intereil of his money } out he is like- V* * The following (latcment puts the matter in a (hort, and clear view. InOdtobrr, 1788, the value ot the whole irMtf/M/«{ three per cent, ((ock was - '• . ' £• lM»4ao,40> >Mr. Pitt, at an expence of two inillioni,f'!ven hundred thoufand pounds, had betore pur- chafcd Itock to the amount ot . . £. 3,626,000 In April 1786, before he began to buy up at all, the whole three per cents, were only at feveiity per cent, or - • f 17,643,301 AcTUALiNCRiASior NATIONAL DSBT,ovcrand above the two millioni feven hundred thoufand pounds, cad away ■ ■ In the purchafe ot ftock .... 004,777.093 f In the court and ci^ calendar, for r77{, eight of thefe liditt, are charged to the > atiun, at falartei of each two hundred pounds per *mum j btfidei dry tuufkh workwonwn, racjttfs, and ether lwg|a|t of ilit fsm« fort. wife prevented from the chance of converting his capital of thiftf f)ounds into an augmented fum of thirty-threci thirty-fix, or fortjr pounds. Thus it is evident, that every fum raifed from the public £• an impoft, or excife, muft in reality coft them ten percent, Thisj by the way»dcmonftrates the ralhnefs of wars undertaken in defence at a foreign trade, £nce thefumb levied to fupport the ftruggle are» every farthing of them, drawn from the circuUtion of domeftic commerce ; a commerce always more fafe, and very commonly aiofe profitable, than that which kings are fo frequently fightu^g for* A commercial war is truly ** ce/iing our bread upon tie nmtitrii •« ibiai *we may find it after many days," Now, as every million of powids raifed by government from the people of Britain^ is upon an average, at leaft equal to an annuity forever, of an hundred thou- fand pounds, out of the pockets of thofe who pay it, the inference is, that if Mr. Pitt, had underftood or regarded the intereft of this country, he never would have undertaken to difcharge a debt bear^ ' ing three /^r rra/. at an expence often; or, as before obferved, an annuity of one hundred and ei^ht thou fand pounds, by paying a capital of three millions, producing a yearly profit of three nundred thoufand pounds to the holders of it. In this way Mr. Pitt pays off the public debt. Since Odtober 1788, (locks have rifen prodigi- oufly ; fo that the period here chofen for the exambation of this celebrated proje^ is, by far the mod favourable that can be taken. A full account of its fubfequent hiftory will be given hereafter. Mr. Pitt might as well propofeto empty the Baltic with a tobacco pipe. But let us admit the cafe, that he at prefent had an hundred milli- ons in the exchequer. The difcharge of the public debt is, on his prinfiplesi abfurd and unjuft. Stocks would inftantly rife to an nundred; and he begins perhaps by payin? off the twenty-one milli- ons of three and four per centst for which Lord North a^ually re- ceived but tavehe millions. Thus, after giving as above ftated, five and an half /^r cent, for a loan of twelve mulions, we difcharge that original twelve milh'ons itfelf, with tnuenty-ont millions. The prefent Tcheme for extinguifhing the public debt is thert fore im- practicable, if it were honeft, and as an a^ of robbery againft our- felves. it would be di(hone(l, if it were praflicable. But, fuppofin^ that Mr. Pitt had in reality paid off nine millions of debt, and leflened the public burdens of its intereft, yet for the fake of an impartial and latisfadlory argument, his advocates ought to arrange, in an oppofite column, a lift of the additional taxes which he has impofed, and of the thoufands of families, whom fuch taxes have ruined.* A third column ftiould contain a lift of the millions which this minifter has wafted upon Spanifli and Ruffian * In 1713, the caxcn hawkers and pedlars in England, produced in the nofi, ten thoufand, feven hundred and feveoty three pounds ; and eight thoufand, fix nun- dred and four ||oundi of net income. Thus, one>iifth of the revenue was funk in llie colUAioo. lo 1 785, Mr. Pitt doubled the tax, aad in 1 7881 the total Mnouil, ,^-^?«.-^y.-^.wi:«V? ( ij ) annamentsi on the unprovoked and piraticd war againft Tipoo Saib, on the Chinefe embaify> the fucceffive eleAicms for Weftmin- fter» the creditors of the prince of Walesi and the nabob of Arcot, and the Baratrian fettlement of Botany Bay. The pretended plan of difcharging the national debt, on which Mr. Pitt fometimts ex- patiates to parliament* for two hoars together^ was but a (brry trap for popularity; and if ** tht /wimji nultitude" had been jBuch wifer than the reft of their family, they m '«t, in a moment, have, ieen through and defpifed the artifice. T j debts of Britun never will be paid ; they never can be paid ; and in the prefent way of difcharging them, they never, in Juftice ought to be paid. The hardinefs of the father of this delufion, exceeds any thing that wa« ever heard of; becaufe his arguments and aflumptions are. as above explained, in a ftate of hoftility with the multiplication table ; and becaufe, though religious impoiftors have pretended to work fiilfe mi- racles, yet noi.<; even of them has ever aflerted that two and two make five. But though thefe debts will never be extinguilhed by the attempts of the minifter, they have certainly pafled the meridian of their exiftence. Had the war with America lafted for two years longer, Britain would not at this day have owed a (hilling ; and if we (hall per(ift in ru(hing into carnage, with our wonted contempt of all feeling and refled^ion, it muft ftill be expeftcd, that, accord^' ing to the praAice of other nations, a fponge or a bonfire will fi> ni(h the game of funding. What advantage has refulted to Britain from fuch ince(rant fcenes of prodigality and of blGod(hed ? In the wars of 1 6S9, and 1 70Z, this country was but an hob^y-horfe for the emperor and the Dutch. The rebellion in 1 7 1 51 was excited by the defpotic infolenceof the whigs. George the Firft purchafed Bremen and Verden, from the king of Denmark, to whom thev did nd|i belong. This pitiful and dirty bargain produced the Spaniih war of 1718, and a fquadron dilpatched for fix different years to the Baltic. Such exertions coft us an hundred times more than thefe tj^uagmire duchies are wortfai even to an elector of Hanover; a diitindtton which on this bufinefs becomes nece(rary, for as to Britain, it was never pretended, that we could gain a farthing by fuch an acquifition*. In 1727, the nation forced the fame George into a war with Spain, which ended as ufual with much mifchicf on both fides. The Spa- ni(h war of the people in 1739, and the Auftrian fubfidy war of the crown, which commenced in 1741, were abfurd in their principles, of it had (hrunk to J!ve tbou/anJ, four hundred anifixty-one pounds. Of ihis fum the net produce was but ivjo thoufand, ont hundred and fcvfity pounds; three- fifth* of the produce of the tax, were thus funk in collcAing it. This diabolical impoft vnp laid for the profefled purpofe of cstirpating pedlars. Crowds of them were reduced t«a ftatc of itarving. The tax hath iince been repealed. Vid. fome account of it in the hiftoryofthepyblic revenue, Parti 11. chap. 3. * Thefoliury mutttringof PotUethwaite^ in hit dictionary, it not worth oam. ^ipgMsn nocftion. and ruinous in their conre(|aences. At iisa* we met witli i;^othiQg bin^ hard blows. On the continenti we began by hiring tht queen of Hungary to fight her own battles againft the king of Pruffiat and ten years after that war had endcdi we hired the kmg of Pruflia, with fix hundred and Teventy one tboufand founds per amtum, td fight his o^n battles againft her. If this be not foUyj what are we to call it ? As to the quarrel of I756» "It was remarked by aU •f Europe,** fays Frederick, *' that in her difpute with Fiaoce» ^ every fwnngfiep tvas on the fidt of England'* By feven years of iSghtingi and ah additional debt of feventy- two millions fterling, Dve^fecured Canada ; but had Wolfe and his army been driven ftoni 1^ heights of Abraham, our grandfons might have come too early to bear of an American revolution. As to this event, the circum- fiances are too fliocking for refle6^ion. At that time an EngKdi woman had difcovered a remedy for the canine madnefs, and Tre- ^derick advifes a French correfpoiident to redtmmend this mdicine to the vfe of the parliament of England t as they mujl certainly heave iieefi bitten br a mad dog,' / / .. In the quarrels of the continent we fhould concern ourfelves but Kttle ; for in a defenfive war, we may fafely clefy all the nations o^ £urop many were fighting about a fuhurb, Ihe natioti has fubmitted to tremble for its exifience, and the bloflbms of domeftic happincfs have been blade d by crimps, and fubOdies* and prefs-gatigs^ and ^cife a^lfi. Our political and commercial fyftema ffre evichently nonfenfe. We pouefs Mithin this finale iAwnd, every prodiiAirm both of art and nature, which is neccMry for the moft comfortable ei]^78MtttpUife;j«tf0ft^fi|]ieoft0fcaii4fiig»rj and tobacetv find a few other jldpicaMe IvmmriitH w* hm€ aftibd into aa aby6 of tuet and of |>loo(). Tht boaftcd vtwut eCosr iradtf* and d)t ^r- nb and pabUc (kbtt whi^ mfad '^ M^« aanaeiind the fcai dtf of bread, and eviea of giafty at kdl thice huodied^ um. Then u m Um «*•'» M% fayf VifgUi tlmm thtU $kt toMrivtr tg diathJhM ftr^ fy hit •wmfitatage^. We havt fafiitiQd m%m proportion to what we have iaffidtod. As to the flaH||^ter ofa«t countryiq^ in time of war» George Chaliiien» £fi|* dM^ftt it in « ftyle perfeaiy (uf^ble to the uadcrftandiag and tht cottleieBce of i inodem Haferman. 1 he Britifli ariflocracy eenttder tht refl of iha nation, as a eommpdity booght and fold ; and if we itqntfed abla^ ' lute oviidence of thii truth, here is a fuU atteftatinn* *^ If ititfl f< eafy," fays Mr. Chaknen ff tocakoktc theiwimibeM who dial* " th^ cainp, or the battle, more than would peri& fcooi «witfi H (< fboi vice in the hamlet or city. // u fiftf en/ihtiam mat tht f* induftrioiis ate too wealthy and independent to covet the piftaace <5 of the (bidier, or to eourt the dangers of the fulor ; and thoagh e j^jfahm Itver, or the refib^t vagmtrtt ma^ have looked tog re*^ ff fugo in the ariny or the fleet,* it may admit of ibme doabt ho# * During the wife difpute about Falkland's Iflandt, which were, in vaikto this cotintr^; bel6w the power'of ' figures, a workman in London was returning one of all iiieans to fupport' herfelf and he^ family ; and that in attempting toejothe her new-fcarn infant, (ne perhaps did wrong, as (he did not, at that tim^ know what (he did. - The parifh ofRcei's, and other witnefles, bore ttiKmony to thd truth of her averment, but aUtonopurpofa. She was ordered for Tyburn. Though' her milk, if (he hadany^ mu(t have been fermented intopoifonr itfaemsthat no.> body condefcended to feek a nurfe for her child. The hang^itiui dragged her fucking infant frdm her breufi^ when Be ^rattened the cord about her neck. On the 13th of May, 1777, Sir William Meredith mentioned this aif^ilinatioit in the Hou(e of Commons. ** Never," faid he* ** was there a touler murder committed againft ** the law, thand)atofthiswomanbythelaw."^Thefe were the fruitt of what Engh(hmen call their inefiimaUe privilege tfa trial by jury. It would not be diflicult to hll a large volume with decifions of this ftamp, though there has not perhaps occurred anyiingle cafe which was, in all its circumftancei, fe khfolutely infernal. In this introduAion, we have feen a (ketch of the hiftoty of ' certain monarchs and minifters, feme of whom arci at this day, held up as the poll tical faviours of Britain. The reader may compare the wanton flaughter of muki» tudes, and the profligate expenditure of millions with the guilty as it was termed, of ; Mary Jones. He will then judge which of the two parties beit deferved a halter. The particulars in this note ar^itradcdfrom a letter to Charles Jenkinfon, E(^* (ccretary at war, by Mr. John Clark, traoflatM of the Calitdonian BanU. Th«lcU«r^ waa prtat«dstI«obiii|h, in lyM. I I» ) 0^ M U tt far the giving /iv^ employment to both, (viz. that of commit- ting robbery and murder, aind of getting themfeWtM Itnocked on the head for it,) tAky Aot have freed their pariihes from di/pde' tudtf and from burdens. It i»^ the i^peucet more than the fi^'gff' " ter of modem war which debilitate every community.*** TTib paragraph ex^Mns the memorable epithet which has been beftowed en the Britifh natiou. For if the foldiers and failors of the firitiih army and navy had been trarisformed by the wand of Circe into llbeS) or e||n rats, it is imjpoffible that this writer could have fpoken Irim greater indiffirrence ot their extirpation. He confiders it as a mece&iy drcumftance, that a |reat part of the common people wtkv/k perilh from want or from vice, unlefs they are difcharged in the form af armies on the reft of the world. The remedy is a thou- fimd times worfe than the difeafe; and it would be more humane to l^e a premium to poor people for ftifline their infants in the cradle. i;« If lam a coward," iays Jaffier, " who made mefo ?" What but the mi(erable conftrudtion of our government can have produced fuch a horrid necelTity ? When ten millions and anhalf fterling««r itmtmH are due, and rouft be paid to the creditors of the nation, be- fides a million to the officers, who collet it, when two millions ftei^g^ are beftowed on the church of England, and a much larger 'Cum on|)enfionersof all kinds, it is impomble, that we fhouldnot find in the oppofite fcale, a correfpondent balance of want and wretchcdnefs. wl]|en you raife one end of a beam, the other end muft fink in proportion. When you give fix or eight hundred thoufand |)oands/fr annumt to a fingle family, and its trumpery of a houfe- jhold, you reduce, with mathematical certainty, tmrty or forty thoufand families to poverty. It is not difficult to fee that fuch a political progrefs muft end in a political explofion. Mr. Hume, af- ter adverting to the extremely frivolous objeA, as he calls it, of the war in 1756, makes this reflexion. <* Our late delufionshave " much exceed any thing known tn hiftory, not excepting " even the crufades. For I fuppofe there is no demonftration fo " clear, that the Holy Land was not the road to paradife, as there ** is, that the endlefs increafe of national debts is the dire6i road to '* NATIONAL RUIN. But haviuff uow completely reached that goal, ** it is needlefs at prefent to look back on the psw. It will be found " in the prefent year (17*76)) that all the revenues of this ifland, *< north of Trent, and weft of Reading, are mortgaged and antici- ** pated forever.'* He concludes with this remark. " So egregi- " ous indeed has been our folly, that we have even loft ali title ti " compajjlon in the numerous calamities that are awaiting us."f This pamphlet confifts not of fluent declamation, but of curious authenticated and important faf^s, with a few (hort obfervations in- terfperfed, which feemed neceflary to explain them. The reader * Csmparative Eftimatc, p. 14a. * f Hifteiy of England, vol. Vth. p. 475, London oAavo «ditioii, 177S, wi)l meet wli^'nQ mourhfi^p^-; to the nttmory of aimmd tyx trt" enmal parliimeoitr} for wl^b the mai^naie menfuch as their pre- deceflbrs have aimnft always been^ it is of fmsdl concern whether they hold their places for Ixfei or bot for a finsleday* Some of our prejeAors are ot opinion^ that to fliorten the duration of parliament would be an ample remedy for all our grievances. The advantages of a popuUr elecUon have lUcewife been much e^ttolled. ^ Yet am ac- quaintance with Thucydides^ or Plutarch, or Giiicciardipiy or Mi>- chiavel, may tend to calm the raptures of a r«pubUam apoAk^'^ The plan of nniverfal fufiPirages has been loudly recommended \>f the duke of Richmond ; and, on the 1 6th of May 1783, that no- bleman, feconded bv Mr. Home Tooke, and Mr. Pitt, was fittidff in a tavern, compoung advertifements o^ reformation for the newik pa^rs. The times are chaiiged ; but had this plan been ad which has fince been transferred to Mr. William Pitt ; and '^ Scots in general, have long been remarked, as the mod fuhmiA five and omtented fubjeAsof the Britifli crown. It is hard to fay «hat (^tigattons have excited that univerfal and fuperlative ardour l^hyvXtft fpt which} till verv lately, we have been fo ftrikingly dtfiUngoiflied. Mr. Brinfley Sihcridan obferved, fome time ago, in |be houfe of commons* that the Scots nation bathjuft at much inttrefi the goverameat of Britain, as the miners of Siberia have in the P9- '^ve mm e mt ofRsifia, The aflertion was at once the moft humiliating and wdl rounded. A public revenue of eleven hundred thoufand EMindi ftonually is eztraAed from North- Britain. Ofthisfum, at aft fix handled thpufand pounds* are lodged in the exchequer of * HiAoiyofdirpuUic revenue. Part iit. chap. 6. The ftatement fill* four fuartopagct; itappean to be candid, and aa anthrntic and accurate, at the nature •f ^ materials would admit. Seme yean ago, Sir lobn Sinclair tranfmitted a let- ter on thta fubje4^ to a focietjr io Scotland ; and 1 have heard Scotfmen, fo funk 'm the mireof Hanoterian fupmtiion, (bdefiided below tbeie^ftx tiat fer(/b, as lo , «tQfMi« him for p refuviptim In doioi lb. *>■'■/■ lill not nff decottlf , re- l^tatirftanclred thoufand ^thboiand poands per m- %htch they btv^ nothing '^n abfoibing fix httn- . Auwld btt a neat dcil loicttt is likewiieirerjr iia*l I peoplet t\» iitfft ab- England, a coontrf^that has it proached us fdr povertj^. It is ill people (hould fubmit to pay ele« num to a government^ in the di^edttcMi < to fay. It is very natural that t dred thoafand pounds a year of ourj richer than ourfelves; and, at the fame tural, that they (hould defpife the Scotd jcft and contemptible of the fpecies. I ^^ To Enelahd we were for many centres » hoitile> tfid wt are' ftill confidered by them as a foreign, anlin effisft -a coaqnefiHl taif tion. It is true, that an extremely diminatfe part of usartfalRsiedt»l| eleA almoft every twelfth member in thennifli houfe (rf'ccHatimohs; ■ but thefe reprefentatives have no title to Arte, or a^ in ^YepiiraCe body. Every ihitute proceeds upon thef the whole compound aflembly. What perfons accomplifli, when oppofed to They feel the abfolute inngniiicance of tl cordingly. An equal number of elbcrnHfiiaiii, placed once for ^ on the minifterial benches, would be leJRxpeiifive t0wn. -_j1ous iroich of national faith, by ye !»eeh bSight to the verge of de(i n^ofiiarcn «Jfo *>««" driven, by D as Auefted yi hii conftituenti, to attend to their in- Jl •ndiourinAniaioni too»'ftMh«. " 1 hav« iljvaM"^ PJitieal DihMlfyhiUt vol. I. p. aSo. * • A worthy reprefentatirc was i tereft in parliament. ** Damn y^ »ou a B T you, and I will 1 1 if foa. " P^M«»i DIJqt4fitk>t** Kfcft- every engine of judicial tortareA the laft pang of Hi exiftence? Have not the manufa^urcrs of paper Jnnte^ callicoeS} niidt liquorti and glafi, been harraiTed by the ml ▼exittoos methods of exafUng the revenue f methods equivalent § ah addition of ten^ or Tometimes an hundfed percexu of uie duty Jiyalde. Let us look around this in- fuUcd coantryy and fayi oiivhpt manufa^re> except the linen> lanation has not fattened its m(Ay fangs. In the excife annals of Scqpndf that year which expired on the th of July 179O1 producedlbr the duties on foap, fixtyfive thm- ^ xni fmndH On the cth ofluly 1 79 1 1 the annual amount of thefe diities was otAy forty-five taUand pounds ; and by the fame hopeful '^^irefsy in three years mJe at fartheft* our miniHers will enjoy plrafurc of extirpating avanch of trade, once flourifliing and ex- tiMive. Two men were foft years ago executed at Edinburgh for flying theexcife-office (^Arenty-feven pounds ; butofl^nders may yib«! naiMd* who ten thoufanJtimes better deferve puniihment. We ^ ,ve fipQ that oppreffive Utes, andamoft tyrannical method of enforcuig them> have» in mingle year, deprived the revenue of twenty thoufand pounds, inlpne branch only, and have compelled a crowd of indbftitous iamilielo feek refuge in England; and then our legiflator8,to borrow tbcloneft language of George Rous, £fq. ** have the infolence to call lU go v e r n m en t." By an oriental monopdy, % have obtained the wtexampled pri- nfiUf^e of buyine a pound of tl fame tea, for fix or eight (hillings, with which otner nations wAki eagerly fapfJy us ai half that price*. Nay, we have to tH|k our piefent illuftrious minifter, tluf this vegetable has been recfted from a price ftillmore extrava- jgaiit. His pppttlarity began bithe commutation a£l. Wonders irere promifed. wonders were eab^ed, and wonders have happen. A nation, confiding of inel who call themfelves enlighteuedf Gbnfented to buUdup their Indows, that they might enjoy the ^r f fipfHOg in tM dark |cup of tea, ten per cenu cheaper wan l^iiis .ty ; though ftill fifty^r cent, dearer than its intriiific Sucha0l^egk)rioos confequeafes of our ftupid veneration fotr 3 mmilter, aniouf abfurd fubmiffiotto hb ^pncious didates f ' Qeneral aiKrtions unfupported \ proper evidence defei * 'm%.. little attcntion.Nl (hall therefore la%fore the reader fomc extrafts froin a book wA»i(hed in 1786 ttDr. James Anderfon. This work IS hanily kao*n, yet every friel to the piofperity of Scotland ought to be iRa.-iiatcly iicquainted wit its contents. ^ In 1785, thisfSi crft^n was emolckd by the lords ofthetiSfu- ry to make a imv .hmw Jie Hebridrtand weftern coafts of Scot- land, for the purpo V on the \vf thm- ofthefc hopeful II enjoy and ex- Turgh for lers may tit. We ethod of enue of ipelled a uid then ►us, Efq, fied pri. fliillings, ^If that miniftcr, cxtrava- Wondcrt happen. lightened, •njoy the cheaper intriiliic or foif r? * rs? .J, . :, ,. extnidis u Thit Scotland etrSifa^ af Scot- promote of the AtG^. (on executed withthit aido^ I he has long beendifti|gui(hcd. I of this lature, to give an an»- rparticalars willferve to (hew [iflanJ? of Scotia. ^ groan un» jr. Anderfon has printed part countnr.^ This commUBoii Dr. end fidelity vf inveftigationfor' It is impoffible> in a ihort peri^mi lyfis of the volume ; but the fe ' that the weftem coafts and the wc der the rooft enormous oppreffion. of a report, dated the 14th of July 185, and made by a commit- tee of the Houfe of Commons. Thel|ive an account of the cuftom- houfe duties collected for ten fucceffiwein, in nine counties of Sco|» \ land, viz. Arr y V', J avemefs, Sutheriai Caithnefs, OdkneytShetl Cromarty 1 '«ti nd Moray. Thi ipence of c mij;^ht be ap|H|d to feme other pur- ee * Utroduftion page 65. X Ibid p. 41, + Report t.\ ( »5 pofe than that of curing fidth and in ti vny, the intended bounty might be converted tntoafource of md againft the excife revenue. When the legiflaturCj therefore} graiih this indulgeQce, "all im. (* porters of foreign fait were requirqirft to land it at a cuftom. *• noufe, where it was to be carefully\lighed by the proper offi- " cerS} and the importer either to pawie duty> or to enter ity^r " the purpofe of curing fijb, and in that Wei to give bond* with two ".fufficient fureties, either to pay the Icife duty of ten (hillings " /frbufliel} otto account for the fait, osr a penalty of twenty (hil- " lings per bufhel. In confequence onis oond, he muft either « produce the fait itfelfat thatcuftom-Mk on or before the 5th of << April thereafter) or cured fifli in fuwiuantities as are fufficient « to exhauft the whole falt> which fiih» I is obliged to declare upon « oath, were cured with the fait for wlh he had granted bond. It « is only after all thefeformS)axn//^Jf0/i&^rr are duly complied " with, that the bond can be got up ; Id t^fe bonds if not cancel. « led before they fall due ^ muft be reguly returned to the commiffi. *< oners of fait duties^ by whom an aJn muft be inftamlj com- ** mencedinthe court of exchequer, ■ recovery of the penalties " incurred in the bonds. If any of vk fait remains unufed, a new bond on the fame termsj muft be yted for it, however fmall the quantity may bC} nor can that Jf be moved from the place where it is once lodgedi without cuftom houfe»and another bond fyine, under heavy penalities) wl bond can only be withdrawn in c the cuftora-houfe, fpecifying thft was there lodged. it be ftiifted from one veflel to aPicr* did both veftels u (« <( it u u u it (( €( il (( (< exprefs warrant from' the f ted by the proprietor, fpeci- it is to be landed ; which :quence of a certificate from Nor can even hem long to the fame per/on, vfithout iov'^cr from the cuftom-houfe, and a new bond granted ; nor a a Angle bufliel of that fait) in any circumftances be fold wi^t a new bond being granted for it) and a transfer of that qu Jt^y being made in the cuftom- houfe books."* This paflaf paints in ftriking colours, the gloomy and ferocious jealouf)/ Englifti defpotifm. An eternal repetition of the word hond f affure us that the aft of parlia- ment has been diftated by thtfry genius of Shy lock. Thefc re- gulations are attended with /much expence, and intricacy) and fo great a hazard of ruinous |pJ»cS) that, in many cafes, they cor- refpond to an abfolute prohi^n* In England) a filherman granti bond but e«f<';+ adiftinftionjitafcertainsthe pitiful malevolence of owxftfter kingdom. To gi\# proper comprehenfion of all the clogs with which the Scots filhed^ and *^fy ""l^ are burdened) would re- S|uire feveral flieets of papcJ A few particulars may ferve at prt- ent, as a fpecimen of the^ • Rfjort by Dr. Andcrfon,l« 3S« i lUuftr«ti«ni9f ih* reporfl« >7^' »6 ) '* If a vcflcl containing; falls loft at fca, or at the fiihingt proof " mttft be made ofits being ffloft, before the fait bond can be re the comirtiflioners are fo fcrupu- *, as to render it next to impoflible the penalty it contains."* Thefc ihillings and fix pence. As an in- iflionerSi Dr. Anderfon tells the tbl- " covered ; and in fome cai •* lous with refpeft to this pr ♦* to recover the bond, or a\ bonds coft each of themi fe» (lance of the rigour of the cc lowing ftory, A bufs on the fi(hing ftatii was caft away. The mafter went to a juftice of the peace in thelighbnurhood, and made oath to the lots of his vefTel, with the fai&c. on board, but mt having faved bh paperSi he committed a miftle of five or fix bufhels in dating the quantity of fait. His depftion, figncd by the juftice, was tranf- mitted to the commiflionerwr recovery of the (alt bond. On ac< count of the errort it was rJrned, to be altered. The man then went before two juftices, aJmade oath to the exa^ quantity. This depofition was tranfmitted ;|ut returned again as iniufficient, for uld be made before a quorum of By this time the mip-mafter y. Dr. Anderfon adds that it was ot either to pay the penalty of he fifliing; as he coul4 not when ^ at the precife day of the quar- ^nt of a Ihipwrecked mariner from ! When this tranfad\ion happened, s a member of that quintumvirate* who fway the excife fceptre of ^rth- Britain. ** No veflel can lend or givt«ilt to any other at the fiihing or otherwife, even though belongL to the fame owners, becaufe the quantity Ihipped per cocquet iVny veflel mud be regularly land- ed at fome cuftom-houfc or otBr, either in fi(h or not ufed ; and if it muft be lent, mud be fo laled and bonded and again (hipped per cocquet anew. If lent othcftfe, the fait and velTel are feiz- able."J This author obfcrves, At a bare lift of the profecutions which have been raifed in Scotlannl account of the fait tax would excite horror. The moft trifling n^ake in point of form is fuffici- ent for reducing an induftrious iami4to beggary, yet in England, when the committee of filheries requlda lift of the profecutions that had been raifed in that country f4|e the inftitution of this law* the return wasonly oni.§ In"'confequence of fo harfh a fyftem,|klt is fmuggled in immenfc quantities from Ireland, where the dut;,l8 but three-pence /fr bufti- el. A pcrfon confeffed, that, in a finip year, he imported into one of the weftern iflands, nine hundred J^ferenty tons offalti^\i\c]\ is equal to thirtj-tigkt thoujand eight hundm and ninety ^ig^r/^^ Scve- the law requires that it juftices at their quarter /; had gone to fea to the fill m thoujand to one if he hai his bond, or lofe a feafon at fea, be certain of atten< ter feflions.f Such is the tre Scots commiflTioners of fait du tht/ympathetic Dr. Adam Smit u (( it it * Illuftratiunsnfthc report, p^gc 174. + Ibid p. 175. X Ibid p. I76. \ Ibid p. 191. ral other peo^e in the fame ifland tliilowed that trade.* If the for- malities on the remiilion of fait daffes* did not defeat the whole in- tention of the law, there could be k> temptation to this traffic. Dr. Anderfon affisiQSf as a certain fadt» thatySW buttdred thou/and people in Scotland afe no fait but that of ikland. He tells us alfo, on the fubje(:l of cuftom-houfe diitieS} in anerali that he once paid thir- teen (hillings for leave to fend coaWways forty fhillings worth of oat-meal.f X^ough the cuftoms* il the nine mod northern coun- ties of Scotland » cannot defray theapence ofcolle^ing themf yet they are in themfelves, very exorbitnt, when compared with the value of the commodities on which ney are paid. Bonds, certifi- cates, and other trafh of that kind ccl as much on a fmall cargo, as upon a large one. Dr. Anderfon walaflured, that in the Hebrides " the expence of the cuftom-houfe Acer to difcharge a cargo of " coals, amounts in many cafes, tolMrr than fmr times the d»ty m " the ^oalt, and if the cargo be ym<2/| it will lometimes double the « prime ccft,'*X This information e4lains another of his aiSsrtions, that thofe poor people, the Scots Hfhlanders, " pay at leaft five <* hundred per cent, more than thentrchants in London, Liverpool^ <' or Brillol, would have paid for tlft fame goods. "§ The fubjefl of the Scots fi(herieslas already extended tot Confi- derable length. It (hall be refumci and clofed in the next chapter. For the fake of variety, and as ajflief to tht feelings of the read- er, let us for the prefent make a port excur(ion into the more ele- vated regions of legiflative iniquil Some people are in the habit tf revering an aA of^rliaownt, ai though it were the produ^on oi^ fapeiior beine. To this clafs of readers may be recommended aknifal of the following anecdote. In fummer 1789, when the bilpr an excife on the manufacture of oufc of peers, the lord chancellor part of it with a high degree of He faid, that the vexatious pre* " cautions and preventive fAnty of the excife laws, were umre- ** ceffariiy^ extended to theibjeCl in queftion ; that a fit attention ** had not been paid to ih,t«ciriioi imterefti and property of the manu- ** fmSmrert ; that the greatf part of the enabling claufes were ab" ** furd, eemtradiSory, ungrmmatica/, itnd uninttlligible ! He exprcf- ** fed his wi(hes, that thJouie of commons, if they meant to per- «• fevere in their claim omavin* money bills returned from the *< houfe of peersunalter» would nut infult them, by requiring their " adoption of laws tbatffotdddi/gracefchool-boys.**^ He accordingly moved for an amendn^u, which was rejected by a majority uf urn tobacco, was brought up to tl Thurlow •« treated the cnaftj " mixed afperity and conrei • Report, page 47. Ibid p. ji. f lotrodiiAion p. 67. 1 Ibid p. ji, / \ Ihid p. 66. I Thii eipreflBon intinuu, that in the opinion of Thurlow, tobacco ii an im- ri«pe»«b|eaor«icire. II was in the right ; for the tai proditced • ftene •i lU* pendoui injuftice. A fuftccount of it (hail be given hcreaifter. f Dodflcy't Annual ^iftvr, for 17^9, p. 157. roices againft/vM. ^a'notaify funt'tif hifimfsift^ natkn muniedt The bill however had been iowrftchedly conftruii^ed^ that an alter- ation appearing abfolutely neceflsfVi was urged a fecond time by the Duke of Richmond and carried. / But before this c^pld bf accom- plifhed, the parliament were jun rifing. They bad not time to think of their pretended conftitcnts. The alterations were fupi- prefled, and thebiU* with all its piperfedlions on its head, was (lif- chareed on the devoted tobaccolifts of Britain. If that parliament had been feleded from the cellaof Newgate, they could not have adled in this affair with a mve atrocious contempt for every part of their duty. I In the reign of William the t ird, one Tilly obtained an adl of firliament to enable Bromfhall an infant, to fell his intereft in the leet prifon ; which intereft wa pnrchafed by Tilly. A re^rt was fometime after made in the hot e of commons, which contains thefe words. « Mr. Pocklington, fro i the committee on the abufes of '* prifons, &c. among a variet . of other matter, reported to the '< noufe, that one Brunlhill, a fflicitur, had informed the faid com- *' mittee, that Tilly, as he waslnformed, fliould fay, that he ob< " tained that aft hy bribety andhruption, '* That one Mrs. Hancock anyin? to Tilly not to protefl one « Cuy, being his clerk of the pairs, oecaufe he was perjured, Ike, ** Tilly refuted her requeft; uponLrhich, beine aiked now he would " do, if the matter (houjd belaidbefore paniament? he replied, <* he could do what he nvould there ;ihat they were a company of bribed ** 'villtiiiu i that to his knowledge, ley would all take bribes ; and '< that4t coft him three hundred pknds for his (hare, and three « hundred pounds for the other (hoB meaning the King's Beuchy the exchequer was indebted to the bankers and others in the amount of one million, three hundred and twen- eight thoufand, five hundred and twenty-fix pounds; and on thb day Charles fufpended payment. A bankruptcy for ten times that fum would not affed with an equal degree of ruin the prefent com- merce of England, l^e king, however, charged his hereditary fevenue with the legal intereft of this fum at {\\ per cent, and this was af^ually and regularly paid, till about a year before his death, when it was (topped. As he advr ^ed the intereft with pundtuaiity, for fo long a time» we may candidly judge that his failure in the end arofe from necefilty. Sir John Sinclair fays that the (hutting up of the exchequer •* will for ever (tamp the charafter of Charles the ** Second with indelible infamy "\ His charafter was, upon a thoufand other emergencies, fo completely y?aOT/f^, that any finglc crime could have added little to the accompt. But the point in queftion is to prove that in this very a(rair, Charles, bad as he was» Dehaved with greater honefty x\\9Xiony body elfe. Nay, he pofitively a^ed with ten thoufand times more regard to juftice than lord So- mersi who is commonly reputed ro have been the moft virtuous and immaculate perfonage in the fanftified corps of revolution whigs. * Edward II, Richard II, and Henry VI, appear to have been peaceable men. They were all murdered. Edward Vth is fuppoled when a boy, to have (hared the fame fate. Of Edward VI. the exit is not free fromfufpicion. Queen Anne was, up- on the whole, a harmiefs woman ; and every Englilhman acknowledges with grati- tude and with pride, that the virtues ot the houfe of Bruafwick traoTcead all praife. t Hiftoryofthe public revenue, fart 11. chapi. 3. (« <( ft (( it ( 51 ) When Chail^ could no longer pay the intereft ofthe money*, the ottt* fortunate creditors attempted biit in vain to intereft the leeiflature ia their behalf. ** They were at laft obliged to maintain their right» " in the courts of juftice. The fuit was protrad^ed for about ttueht <'jr/>arr in the courts below, bu^judement was obtained againfttbe " crown» about the year 1697. 1 he decifion, however^ was fet '* afide by lord Somers, then chancellor; though it is faid that ten " out of the twelve judges, whom he had called to hu afiiftance " were of a different ofimioh. The caufe was at laft carried by ap- " peal to the houfe of lordsj by whom the decree ofthe chancelms wasreverfed; and the patentees would of courfc have received the annual intereft contained in the original letters patent^ hfti not an Z&. pafled anno 1699} by which* in lieu thereof* it was ena£ted» that after the 25th of December 17051 the hereditary revenue of " excife ihould ftand charged with the annual pynient of thrbi ** percent, for the principal fum contained in the (aid letters patent^ " fubjedl neverthelefs to be redeemed upon the payment of a moie- ty thereof* or fix hundred and fixty-four thou0i|Kl* two hundred «* and fixty-three pounds."* The good people of Britain fpeak with as mochflacncy of French and Spani(h treachery, as if we had engrofled in our own perfont the whole integrity ofthe human race. Yet it will be difficult to find a fingie tranfafHon in any ag<^|j|»t more thoroughly bkcken» the character of an entire nation thahime robbery of thefe creditors. The perfidy of Charles himfelf is forgot in the fuperiorUa/eof fab- fequent fcoundrelifm. Firft, the flaming parliamentary patriots of that time refufed to trouble themfelves about the matter ; though their piety was fo deeply alarmed by the profpeft of a Popifh fuc- cefTor to the crown. In the fecond place* the claim became a ouef- tion in the courts belovj. That the re-payment of this thirteen hun- dred thoufand pounds Oiould ever have been an ohjtd of hefitation at all* was* in itfelf, an utter difgrace to the whole fyftem of Eng- lifh jurifprudence. The law-fuit lafted for tnvelve years. During this time* and while the court of London rolled in luxury* manv of the creditors muft have gone to jail, or at leaft* many fubordif nate creditors, whom the former* in confequenceof this fraud* were unable to fatisfy. An immenfe number of families muft have been reduced to beggary ; and a croud of honeft fathers and hufband^ muft have died of a broken heart. At length a decifion was obtain- ed* and approved by ten out of the twelve judges.. A thoufand racked bankrupts rejoiced in the profped of reftitution. Till at the laft, a cruel fpoiler came, mf^y Cropt this fair flower, and rifled all its fweetneft. T^t decifion was reverfed by Somers* the lord chancellor*, a ho exhibited in his own perfon the very focus of whig wMyofthe public revenue* part ii, chap. 4. viftac* This conduA reminds os of the proverb, th^t tit reeirver «r at bad at the thief. Charles paid the intereft of the money as long he could. Somers would pay nothing. It is therefore indifputable that) of the two roguesj the receiver was in this inftance, by much the greater. The houfe of lords feverfed fo fcandalous a decree* but mark what follows. An a£t of parliament was immediately pafledi which in oppofition to every principle of law, of juftice* and of decency, interfered with the dccifion of a judicial court. To confummate the infamy of the Englifti houfe of peers, they content- ed as le^ijlatnrs^ to the reverfal of their own deciiinn as judget^ thui demonlhating their invulnerable contempt for all veftige of reputa- tion. In the end, payment was delayed for more than five addi- tional years, and then, »he half of the legal intereft was begun to be paid annually, but redeemable on refunding halfo{\\\^ Aim origi- nally ilolen. 'Phe reader will <«bfcfve in wiiat kind cf milk and wa- ter ftyle, Sir John Sinclair has related this ft.-r ont.on the original fum* that is to fay, thirty-nine thoufand eight hundred and fifty-fire poundst fettenteen fhillings and f'ven-pence fitrling^ At x^^k p^r cent, the annual intereft of five millions and two hundred thoufand pounds-amounted to three hundred and twelve thoufand pounds. I'hus parliament gave fomewhat more tban an eighth part of what the merchants had adlually loft. We now fee that the felonious ravages of an Eng* * " One of thofe divine men, who, like a chapel in a palrc-e, remain unpro* " faned, white all the reft is tyranny, corruption, and folly. All the traditional ** accounts of him, the hiftoriant of the laft age, and its beft authors, reprefent him •• as the mqft uncorrupt laivyer, and the honrjltjl Jiatefman, as a matter orator, a •* geni"8 of the finett tafte, and as a patriot of the nobleft and raoft exreniive views ; '* as a man, who difpeufedblel^ngs by his life, and planned them for poflerity." Catalogue of royal and noble authors by Horace Walpole. Art. Somers. The writer proceeds \n a rhapfody of five pages to the fame purpofe. He appeals to the hiftorians and the befi authors o{\ht laft age. It is likely that none of thefe encomU afts had been creditors to the En^ li(h exchequer, in the reign of Charles the Second, fiutthe panegyrics of all mankind cannot convert an a£l of arrant robbery into an aA of jiiftice. The hiftorians to whom Mr. Walpole appeals prove iUHlUBg but how vilely the Bntifli annals have commonly been compofed. t He died on the 6th of February, 1684. \ ( 33 ) t reeiroer u Uih government are not fcftri^edto Scots Highlanders. With fuch agulphof imqutty yawningon every fide, we are tempted to think ourfelvvs perufing the Tyburn chronicle. The real canfe fc befides the intereft of the money up to this date. We may compare this mode of cx- haufting the publie treafury) with that employed in the highlands of Scotland, to i;epleni(h it.* On a fubjefl fo hatefuly there can be no pleafure to expatiate. In- deed the tafte of the nation runs in a very oppofite channel. We can hardly o^^n a newfpaper without meeting a irhapfody on the virtues and abilities of the prince of Wales. Hisadmirersi like the fpaniel that licks the foot raifed to kick him, lire not contented with general praife. They tell u«, in tranfports of exultationj that he gave a thoufand guineas for " an admirable fnuff-box ;" that, npon a late birth-day^ he appeared a| court in a fuit of cloathS) which} including diamonds) cod eighty thoufand pounds ; that he .bought a face horfe for fifteen hundred guineas, and fold him for . jeventy pounds ; that he was prefent fome time ago at a boxing match, where a (boemaker was ftruck dead with a fingle blow ; and that he drove a lady round St. James's park, or that (he drove hinif no matter which, in a phaeton with four black ponies^f For thefe ineftimable fervices, the nation has paid eight hundred thonfand pounds; a fum loft in the bottontlefs pit ofCarletori-houfe. How many additional millions are, like Curtius, to be A/allowed up in the fame gulph, time only can determine. Since this country had the honor of eftahlifhing a houfehold for the prince of Wales, we have been burdened with additional taxes upon fnufFand tobac- to, on paper, advertifements, leather, perfumery, horfes, attor- lites, batchelors, ftage-coaches, gloves, hats, male and female fer- vants,!}: pedlars and ihopkeepers ; upon wirinws, candles, medi- cines, bills and receipts ; upbn newfpapers a^id p?.rtridges ; and if • In North-America, t}>erearf fometimes found thebonrsofa carniverous qua- iruped, which mufthavr been, when alive, three or foui times larger than the ele- phant. This animal, which ipay likely have been amphibious, appears now to be extirpated. Perhaps it perifhec^from an iinpoiTibility of obtaining adequate fub- fiftence. A foreft thirty leagues in length, would have been infufficient to furnifli food for fo formidable a gueft. It is pollible that the fpecUs nf ki: gt may one day, tome to be extirpated for a (imilar reafon. The gluttony of the mammoth, devouring fix buffaloes for a breakfalt, bears no proportion to the ordinary extent of royal rapacity. Two hundred families of fovereigns like thofe of France or England, would of themfelves, be fufficient for confuming the whole revenues of Europe. t It is very generally whifpered and believed, that an illujirious perfoiiage (hot one of his footmen dend with a pitlol, for difrefpe<£% to a woman. If this be true, the life of Dr. Philip Withers has not been the only facrificeatthatlhrine ; nor will Morocco be in future, the only country in the world governed by an executioner. .In the London chronicle, I read miiiy years ago, an article ftatin^, that a very young naval officer luhofe name tvas inprtrd ttt full Itngth, had ftabbed one of hit fervants. There was never any farther notice in the newfpapers of this Itory ; but I have (ince learned, that the man died of his wound ; and thatafailor on board of the (hip where the murder was committed, underwent a (ham trial for it, and was difcharged. X The latter tax ought to have been entitled a recipe for female idlenefi, theft and proftitutioD. ( 3J ) any thing can be yet mote impertinent or oppreflive) on birtus^ bu- rials and legacies ; befides a crowd of other impofuions beyond the retention of the ftrongeft memory. Now it is remarkablci that ten or fifteen of thefe taxes nlight be feledled, which by their nett pro- duce» could not in whole have difcharged the expences of this An- gle private perfon. We are inceflantly deafened about our obliga- tions to the houfe of Guelph. It would be l^ut candid to ftate an eilimate of their obligations to US| andto (Irike the balance. In the courfe of a century» from the revolution to Michaelmas* 1788} the pilots of our moft excellent conftitution» have received into the Britilh' exchequer) one thoufand millions) fix hundred and forty-four thoufand) one hundred and fifty-four pounds l^erling.* It will be hard to prove that even a twentieth part of this money has been expended on wife or ufeful purpofes. To this we muftadd the charges of colle^ing the revenue for the fame period, which can be moderately guefifed at fix hundred thoufand pounds perannum. This rate extendS) in an hundred years to fixty millions of pounds fterling deburfed for the invaluable exploits of cuftom-houfe and ex- cife officers. Such a fum, at a compound intereft of five /era/it, com- puting from the refpedive dates of its annual expenditure* would by this time have been large enough to buy up in fee fimple* the Britifh iflands, with the laft acre> and the lafl: guinea that thcf contain. » «ilB B ! ^ <«€<«« *■' CHAPTER II. Fertility of the Hebrides — IJIay-"Its frodigimt improvement'—Immenfi abundance offijh — M'ferable efftHs ofExciJe — Aftonifiiitig Corn Law •—What Scotland migijt hanje been— ^Famine d firing the war of i6Sg — CuUode»—The bloody Duke — Ajlfangi Aa of Farliament — JJr«- tal triumph of the Britijh Nation, WE have, in the laft chapter) learned fome of th^circumftan- ces that prevent the improvement of Scots filheries. Wc ihall now return to that fubjedl) by a farther examination Qf Dr. Anderfon's performance. Other writers have caft light on this queftioU) and well deferve to be quoted. But the prefent work em- Graces an immenfe multiplicity of objedis ; and hencC) it becomes requifite to condenfe and abridge our materials. There is not to ht exped^ed) in this placC) a complete account of the fituation of the inhabitants in the northern counties, and Sh the iflands of Scot- land. .A few interefting fafts only will be ftated ; fome (hocking abufes of government will be exhibited; and fome obvious reflec- * HiftoryofthepuUicreveaue) pactlii. chap. r. { «6 y '. h tions will be fubmitted to the public. Bv a iketch of this kind, the fpirit of curiofity and of enquiry may pernaps be excited ; and then every perfonis able, at his own convenience) to make himfelf maf- ter of the cafe. This may be refolved into three points^ the natu< ral advantages of the country itfelf) the miferable confequefices re- fulting from the tyranny of parliament, and the numerous benefits that would arife fron^ an honeii and beneficent adimniftration. Tt has commonly been fuppofed, that the Hebrides were barren and unfit for agriculture. On the contrary, Dr. Anderfon ftates, that they contain extenfive fields of unufual fertility. Many trades which have never been ploughed are capable to produce corn, and to fapply fubfiftence for a multitude of people. Arran excepted, which is very mountainous, the weftern iflands are for the moft part kvel. Tiree, for example, is one continued plain of fine arable land, with only two fmall hills. The weft fide of Barra, of Uift, and of Harris, and' the whole of the iflands between thefe, as well as the north-weft fide of Lewis, are low lands. They are one en- tire bed of (hell-fand, and extremely fruitful. Dr. Anderfon, who is himfelf a farmer of experience, obferves, that thefe fields of ftiell- fand, when well cultivated, and properly manured with {ea-weed» give crops of barley, j»rhich cannot, as he imagines, be equailed in any part of J^urope. * He adds, that were he to fpecify tne parti- culars, they would not obtain credit. The crops of peafe and rye are very luxuriant ; and he fuppofes that turnips, lucerne, fainfoin, »id wheat, might be raifed in as great perfe^on as any where in this quarter of the world. Lime-ftone, marie, and (hell-fand, ar^ fvety ivhere to be met twith in great plenty. The iflands of Cannay and Egg, confift of fevei^^l rows of bafaltic columns raifed one above each other. The ground is not level, but the foil is very fertile. The rocks of LiTmbre confift entirely of lime-ftone, and the land is fruitful, even to a proverb. The climate of the weft- ern iflands is more favouralip^ and the harveft for the moft part more early than on the oppoltte coaft of Scotland. During fummer, the wind blows commonly from the fouth-weft, and of conft-quence it is loaded with clouds from the Atlantic. The high lands on the weftern coafts intercept thefe clouds, and the rain defeends in tor- rents. But in the iflands the ground is low. The clouds pafs ovej them without ohftrudlion. There is ufually lefs rain in fummer than the inhabitants would defire. The harveft is more early and more certain than on the continent. In Iflay, the crops are com- inonly fecured before the end of September ; a more early feafon than in Eaft Lothian, the beft corn country of Scotland. Among the weftern iflands, where the foil is not flicll-fand, th« furface very frequently confifts of mofly earth. When manured with fliell- fand, it beconifsat once capable of bearing excellent crops of grain. When afterwards laid into erafs, it becomes covered with a fine fwaird, confifting chiefly of white clflver and the poa-graflfes ; fo that this improved foil becomes in future equally adaptol |pr com # (•^37 I or pafturc. Thofe hills, which cnnnot be plcugl.cd, nre yet fuf- ceptible of the greatelj improvement. When covered with tluit fort of manure whic^ is every where pk'ntiful and inexhauilible, they immediately obtain a fifie pile of delicate and perennial grafs. As an evidence of what may be accomplillied in tho Hebrides, by the joint efforts of induftry and judgmenti we may confider the proceedings of \yalter Campbelli Efquirei of ShawficKl, proprietor of Iflay.* About twelve years before Dr. Anderfon came to vifu itj this i||ind, like moil of the Hebrides, at prefent, had no roads on which carriages could be drawn, no bridges, no public work of any kind. It contained lefs than feven thoufand people ; and it imjM>rted annually, between three and four thoufand bolls of grain. Thus, iflhut out fron> the reft of the world, the inhabitants muft have expired of hunger. They w^re difcontented; and they had begun to emigrate. Their departure was interrupfed by the very judi- cious war againft America, which commenced for a duty of three- pence per pound upon tea, and terminated with an cxpence of one hundred and thirty-nine millions fterling. Now let us confider the ftaie of this ifland in the year 178;. In fpite of the intervention of a bloo- dy war, that lafted for fcven years and an half out of the twelve, and checked all forts of improvement xtk all parts of the empire, the population had augmented tg ten thoufand fouls. Tjiefe, inftead of importing their fubfifterwe, /^-/sr/^^ annually, about five thou- fand bolls of grainj^ three thoufand fix hundred head of black cfU- tle, between three' and four hundred horfes, and about thirry-fijc! thoufand fpindles of yarn, all of their own produce and r^ fac- ture. Thirty miles of excellent roads had aliea'dy been form . A great number of ufe^'ul bridges w«a^ eteded. A well conllruiftcd pier had been built. * A town was oc^un, and its inhabitants mul- tipliedprjth rapidity. Markets wer^ opened Tor the produce oftlie land. Large tradis of barren ground were annually brouj^ht into culture. The people IfereCinduftrioirt and fatlsficd. Thi* rapid improvement was atchieved, in a poor and fcquefter- cd iflarid, by the exertions of a fingle private gentleman. Hence, it feems evident, that if the re/l Qt Scotland had been go- verned with equal wildom, its wealth, population, importance, and feli^|ity, muft, at the fame rime, have incr«af«d in a fimilar propor- tioh. From fixtet n hundred thoufand people, we (hould in twelve years have multiplied to two millions and three hundred thoufand. F * The Doftor obferved to a friend, that part of the fuperior pood feiife of this gentleman arofe from his happinefs in being born a younger tiolhir. He did not obtain the eftates of the family till he had reached the maturity ^i h'S underftand- ing ; Wflen the death of an elder fen, without children, put him into poiVcliion of them. Such is the ridiculous confeqiience of the right of primogeniture, that it not only half beggars the reft of the family, but in two cafes out of tiirec, theob- je6t ot its favour has a very g^reat chance for being a blockhead. Everybody may remark, at a grammar-fchool, that heirs are in general the moft idle, ignorant, and vicious of all the boys. Of jhefc hopeful materials our future legiflatures arc to be formed. ^ At the fame time* Scotland muft have been aMe to export grain in much greater quantities than what (he at prefent imports. The agriculture of the country muft very foon have ddubled its produc- tions. The exiftence of feven hundred thoufand additional. people, in twelve years only, hath been prevented by the magic wands of live or fix hundred cuilom-houfe and excife officers. It is remarkable that though xh&free government of Britain can- not perform revolutions like that etfcded by Mr. Campbell, yet a tafk of tills nature has, within our own days, been cxec^ed by one of the moil inflexible defpots that ever menaced mapkind. In the year 1763, the dominions of Frederick the Great, had been reduced to the utmoft diilrefs. The king himfelf, in his poilhu- mou« memoirs, obferves, that " no defcription, however pathetic, ** can poflibly approach to the deep, the afflicting, the mournful im- <* prcffion, v'hich thii Jight of them infpirtd." Among other parti- culars, he tells us, that they nad Xcfkfive hundred thoufand tnhahitfints. Thirteen thoufand houfes had been razed from the earth ; and the whole nation, from the noble to the peafant, were in rags that hard- ly covered their nakednefs. In about eight years ofpc^ce, the breaches of population were pcrfeftly repaired, and the whole coun- try becamt as flburiihing as c^yer. Thus, what Mr. Campbell aded upon a fmall fcale, was done by Frederick upon a greater. There is no doubt that Scotland itfelf might be improved as quickly as the iflandoflflay. For indance. Dr. Anderfon remarks, that within the laft fifty years, a very great alteration for me better has taken place in the neighbourhood of Aberdeen. Many thoufand acres of the moft barren land that can be conceived, have been converted in- to excellent corn-fields ; ap^ he computes that, in confequence of this change, the rent of this ^ano has been auvnented by more than thirty thoufand pounds fterling per annum. The iron forge at Bu- naw gives employment to feveral families. When they were plan- ted near it, the foil was nothing but a bleak mofs with fome dwarf- i(h heath. Of this land, feveral hundred acres are now covered' with grafs and corn. The fteep mountain at Fort William, feemed by nature incapable of improvemerit ; but is now overfpread with gardens and corn-fields. To thefe details by Dr. Anderfon, every nerfon may, from hjs own obfcrvation, add others of the fame kind. The hiftory of the parifli of Portpatrick, in the ftatiftical account of Scotland, affords an inftance of how much may be done for a barren corner. What adds to tlie merit of the improvements in Iflay is, that they were accomplilbed under the moll oppreflive fyftcm of taxation that can be devifed. The proprietor himfelf I'.as encountered the moft rancoro' ; infolence in carrying j;)n the fiOicvy, not only from the commiflloners of the fait duties, but from a petty (;ft:ccr of excife; and if he had not been a very abfo* and powerful man, thefe harpies might have reduced him to bank- ruptcy. We muft not therefore bliime pi^vidcncc, becaufe the Hebrides, and a confiderable part of the main land 6f Scotland, are ( 89 ) ftill in a ftate of comparative defolation. Induftry lingers not for want port their cargoes of tifli, the bufinefs ends in a mere waile and defirudion. What better indeed was to be ex- pelled, wlifn the inhabitants of the wcltern iflands came under the don.inationof an aflbmbly of legiflators at the dillance of two hun- dreti leagues, an alll-mbly who defpifc their intercfts, abhor their profperiiy, and do not even undcrliand their language ? At Loch Carron.abouttiic year I 775, herrings " were fo throng, " that thoLi^<;h the loch, fiom the narrow entry, is above a league " long, and in fomc places above a mile broad, and from (ixtv to " four fatlicms deep, it was indifferent to the fifhers whether their *' nets wire near the ground or furface ; they were equally fure to •' ha\ c them loaded. "^Ihey continued in tl.i^ bay for five weeks. " On the weft fide of Skye, I am informed^ they once fwarmed fo " thick inCaroy loclr; and fo many were caught, that they could ** not bo carried Oil: and after the buflVs were loaded, and the " country round was fcrved, /he neighbour t/g farmers made them up •f into comp-.fhi and manurid their ground with them the enjuing Jeafon. " This flioal continued many years upon the coaft, but they were •* not in every year, nor in ever)^ay fo thick as this laft ; but were «* for a number of years fo much fo, that all the bulles made car- *' goesi and the whole coalls were abundantly firvad.— At Loch *' Urn, in 1767, or 1768, fuch a qtantity ran on Jborrt that the " beach, for lour mil{*8 roiujd the head of the loch, waj. *, •* covered with them, from fix to eighteen inches deep; an(Lpr " the ground under wafv 1, fo far as it could be fcen at low wateri *' was equally fo. I believe the whole bay, from tho narrow to the " mduth, about tweLe miloL. long, and a lfa;nu* broad, uas •' them. J am alfo of opinion, that the l^rongril filh bcin; *' out, in forcing their way into ih? inner bay,' du •* lighted and wcakcft on fhorc. So thick were thcfe h " they carried before them- every other kind of fith i< met, even ground-fifli, Ikate, flounderJ, &c. and pcrifticd ^m i 41 ) ** t<^ther.*'* With fuch inconceivable quantities of fifti athomCy we can be under no neceflity for wandering in quell of employ menc* to Greenland, to Newfoundland, to Falkland's iflands) or to Noot- ka Sound ; and of obtaining a permifiion for fKb.ing fo far off, at an cxpence of threCftmillions fterling. The true caufe for fuch condud: is fhortly this. At the union, Scotland came under the yoke of an antient nvali hy whom fhe was equally feared and deteiled ; and no advantaj^e to the empire in general could conipenfate to the pride of England, for the mortification of having promoted Scots opulencc.t In the year 1784, a (hoM of herrings came into Loch Urn. Mr. M'Donell of Barrifdal^, gave it as his opinion, that in the courfe of feven or eight weeks a quantity was caught, that, if brought to market, would have fold for fifty-fix ihoufand pounds fterling. Double the quantity, might have been taken, but for the want of fait and of calks. Were it not for the interruption of an excife, and fome other obvious caufes, the fiihery buiinefs in that quarter would be more lucrative than any other that a labourii.^ man can follow in any part df Britain.]: Thefe examples prove what immenfe loads of fifh might be kil- led, if the people had a proper fiipply of fait and of calks for cur- ing them, and a fuitable market for felling them ; fo that they might be able to continue at the fiihery during the whole time which it lafted. At pfcfent, the mifchief that is left undone by the exor- bitant eXcife upon fait, is completed by the pn pfterous terms on which the bounty is granted. When a bufs has completed her car- go, y6e muji abatidon thtfijhing entirely { and none of her hands can return to it again in lef^ than eight or ten weeks, before which time, the people of the bufs might iiave catched perhaps twenty loadings, had thet been permitted to remain, Fr>mthe complicated and oppreflive conditions upon which the bounty offered by parliament has been granted* there is ground to queflion whether a fingle penny of it has ever gone into the pockets of the fifhermen. Firll, the bounty would occafion fo great an ex- pence to the inhabitants of the Hebrides, that they are entirely out of the queflion. Before a native of the wellcrn coalls or iflands, can enter himfelf, even as a private mariner, on board one of thofe vcfTels, that apply for the bounty, he mull go to Greenock, Rothe- fay, or Campbciton, and there wait till he is engaged and muftcrcd. • Illuftrati«n$ of the report, p. 158. + The prefcnt metliod of paving and lighting ihe ftrtets of London, ii, as an im- pruvemtnt, felt in the mott feDfible manner by all raiilis and degrees of people. I'hc of this work was burrowed from the h\^)\ Oreet of Edinburgh, and the very es for the pavement were imported Irom S.oti.tnd. For the |tcrfonal fjfcty of . gentlemen concerned, and their lamilies, thcfe ciicumf>ances were conccalcti rom the rabble with the ftridlcft caution, 'i'iicterocityot vulgar |>atriotifin would not h«yc futfcrcd the acknowledgment of fuch an obligation to North«Britain, a (uuntr^, on which they daily exhaul^ tlic vocabulary ot fiitringfgatr. I Repot f, p. 14. t ( 4* ) If this happen? at one of the two former places, he proceeds to Campbelton to be rendezvoufed. Thefe marches and counter- marches confume a month or fix weeks of timci and a great deal of money. At laft he returns to the very fpot from whence he fet out.* Thus it would be impoffible for a Hebridean or weft High- lander, ever to fend a bufs on fuch a circuitous voyage, for he would be obliged to difpatch her a fecond time to the fouth, toa^fecond rendezvous, and to be at the charge of her making a fecondt return home. She would thus be forced to perform yo«r voyages inftead oftiuo. The door to the pretended bounty, is by this means both ihut and bolted againft the weftern Highlandws. Even to the buffes that earn it, the bounty is but a mere delufion. On the caft coall of Scotland, the cuftom-hoiife fees, on fitting out fuch a veffelof thirty tons, are about feven pounds. The bounty is only forty-five pounds. The time wafted in going to a place of rendezvous, be- fore (he fails, and again at her return, coft^a month of delay, and a charge of twenty pounds. Thus more than one half gf the boun- ty is already funk. In the fecond place, ftie is prohibited from catching any fi(h but herrings. On that account, (he muft have nei- ther lines nor hooks on board. Though furrounded by whales and ^og-fifh, cod, ling, mackarel, *&nd other aquatic tribes that follow the herrings in vaft numbers, the men in thefe veflels, when her- rings do not come in their way, are kept idle for Wfeeks together, while charges multiply on the head of the undertaki^r.t A thifd heavy obftruftion is, that all the hands in the bufs muft- be mufter- ed at the cuftom-houfe, not only before failing, but after the vrjfei returns. Thus many fifliers muft be carried back to the rendezvous, who are fuperfluous for navigating the bufs, and who would other- wife be left on the fifhing ground till the end of the feafon ; and this regulation alfo is very burdenfome to the owner. The bounty is thus utterly confumed in complying with afyftemof regulations as' fantafiical, and a thoufand times more pernicious, than the conful- ihip of Caligula's horfe.J * Report, p. 44, f lUuilrations of the report, p. 184. X Foreigners unacquainted with the current ftyle of Bri|i(h converfation, may tondemn comparifons like th^t in the text. Let us hear with what reverence the Icgillators of this country fpeak and think of eac'i other. The Earl of Buchan hath jiift now publi(hed the lives of Fletcher of Salton, and ef]ames Thomfon. He there tells us, that he once faid to Lord Chatham, " What will become of poor England, thjtdoatson the imperfeflions of her prc- •• /f»(/t' Dundat %ere the principals, »xA Kfl ( 43 ) • As the Hcbridcans cannot embrace the terms of the boun- ty, they are therefore at liberty to continue at the fi(hing as long as they pleafe. They are idhe or bufy, juft as thry are fup- plied with fait. When a fmuggling falt-boat arrives, they will get perhaps fix (hillings /^r barrel for their herrings,. As that fait is ex- pended, the price falls to five, four, three, two, one (hilling /?r barrel, and fometimcs to fix-pence or eight-pence. At other times, you may purchafe a barrel of fine frefli herrings, for a fingle quid of tobacco.* A barrel contains from fix to fixtcen hundred her- rings, according to their fize. It feems needlefs to enlarge much farther on the immenfe advan- tages that might be derived from this inexhauftible refource for the induftry and fubfiftence of the Scots nation. If the bounties and taxes were at once abolilhed, and the Dutch prohibited from interfering in the fifhery, the Hebrides and the weftern coafis of Scotland, would perhaps in thecourfeof thirty or forty years, qua- d ruple their prefent population. It might with rcafon be expected, that thoufands of the Dutch mariners, who are at prefent employed in that bufinefs, would come and fettle in the country. Multitudes would likewife flock from different quarters of Britain. Vil- lages of manufa(fturers would by degrees be eftablifhed, and the Hebrides would prefent a profped of induftry, of profperity, and of happinefs, which the moft fanguine friend to national improvements can at prefent hardly conjedure. To make this afiTertlon intelligible^ and to Ihow what benefits may be derived from the BritiHi fi(heries» no writer can be ciied with more propriety than John De Witt, Grand Penfioner of Holland. He informs us, on the authority of Sir Walter Rawleigh, that in the year 1618, the Hollanders em- ployed on the coaft of Britain, three thoufand (hips, and fifty thou- fand men f and that for tranfporting and felling the fifli fo taken, and bringing home the retuins for them, they required nine thou- fand additional (hips, and one hundred and fifty thoufand men. Perhaps this eftimate was exaggerated, but the real number of men and of (hips engaged in Britifli fifheries muft have been very great. De Witt quotes a Dutch writer, who relates, that in the fpace ol three days, in the year 1601, there failed out of Holland to thceafiward, between eight and nine hundred (hips, and fifteen hundred bulTes for the herring fifhery. The Grand Penfioner adds, that from the time of Sir Walter Rawleigh, to the year 1667, the Dutch filhcrics had thus defcribes their conJiidl. " Let no man hereafter talk of the decaying ener- ^** gies of nature. All the a/c>',Vby Holland JH the fiflieries alone. I mention th«fe difle rent numbers without knowing how to reconcile them. r"^ f Evidence before the committee, page 317. X This word, in its original fenfe implies fomething that is caji down and /i underfoot. When applied in its cammon acceptation, the choice ofexprel happy. t ^ This has aflually happened in Aberdeenfliire. T'>e reader may confultM:": •flay in the Bee. vol. 7. />. 189. Jk^ wM -*# ( 45^ Iittndred and fony thourand inhabitants. The example of HolLinil^s fhews that this conjedlurc is not chimerical. As the Hebrides and weftern coafts of Scotland contain by hf the greateft and moft im- . portant part of this fifhery, they would have a chance of ac- quiring an addition of feven hundred thoufand people. An hundredth part of the millions expended upon an ordinary French war, muft have been fufficient to found a colony of filher- men in th^ Hebrides, worth all our foreign poffeffions put together. But fuch a colony would not have anfwered the purpofes of minifte- rial corruption. They would not have entangled us in a quarrel with the reft of Europe. They would not have fupplied our rulers with a plaufible pretence for loading the public witn extravagant taxes. "Mr. Pittfpeaks of difcharging the national debt, and of promoting the public profperity. At the fame time he accepts a Scots reve- ' nue of five thoufand pounds, that is raifed at an expence of ten thoufand. He gives half a guinea per day to bludgeon- men to drive the eleftorsof John HorneTooke, from the huttings at Weftmin- fter; and an annuity of five hundred and ninety-five thoufand, two hundred pounds fterling, to the immaculate creditors of the Nabob of Ariot.* Of minifterial vigilance in colleifting the fait duties in the Scots Highi^nds, the following particulars will afford a proper concep- tion. <' In thefe cafes, the mifcarriage of a letter, (and to places ** where no regular poft goes, this muft frequently happen,) the " carelefsnefs of an ignorant fl.ip-mafter, the miftake of a clerk in ♦* office,' or other circiimftanccs, equally tiivial, often involve a *( whole induftrious family in ruin. There are inftances of men '* being brought to Edinburgh, froiA many hundred miles diftance^ " to the negleft of their own affairs, merely becaufe of fome neg- «* left orl^miffion of fome petty clerk in office; which, when rec- «* tificd, brings no other relief, excepting a perm'tjton to return home «* viith HO farther had ofdebtf but the ex^en:e of fuch ajourneyy and G • The particulars of this edifying tranfaflion are to be found in the wot Its of Edmund Burke, the bofom friend of the " heaven-born minifter." A concife ac- count of it will be given in the Political Progrefs, Part 1 1. As to the Weftminfter cledlion, fu^|information may be had from Proceed ingt in an aEiionfor debt betivttn the right honourable Charles jamti Fox^ plaintiffs and John Horne Tooke^ E/q. dtfendantf printed in 179Z, ofwhichalfoa fummary is to be hereafter inferted. When the legiAature of a country condfts of fuch charaflers, it is not wonderful that our ftatute books are crowded with the moft atrocious edids. As one fpecimen out of hundredsi obferve what follows. '^niTjOy alawwasmadc, which declares, "That all perfons killing game, on * any pretence whatever, above an hour before fun-rife, orafter fun-fet, (hall with- ', •* out rcfpcdt toy?* or ff«fl///y, and without any altei native or redrmption, he com- •• mitted to prifon for tnret months at leaft ; tnd be publicly vhipped at noon-day^ •• in the town where the prifon is ittuated." Thus, after giving government three i^KM foV leave to kill, upon your own ground, « hare thUt \% dear of fix-pence, you imb]^ this law, fubjcdt to be whipped for it, whatever may be your fex or condi- Thii notable penalty hath fince beta refttiAed to a fine of five pounds (ler- ( 46 ) it " the lofs ifhas octnfioned. But ftiould the cafe be otherwife, and ihould the miftake have been committed by the poor country- man, though that miftakc originated yrj« ignorance onlyt or Was occafionedby the lofs of a letter, ingoing to places where no re* gular pofts are eftablifhed, he becomes loaded with additional burdens, which, in many cafes, all his future induflry and care <* will never enable him to difcharge.* Dr. Smith, in his Inquiry into the Wealth of Nations, adverts to the Scots herring filhefy. He fays, that during eleven years, from 1 77 1, to 1781, inclufive, one hundred and fifty-five thoufand four hundred and fixty-three pounds, eleven iliillings fterling of bounties were paid on account of it. This was, in proportion to fhe whole quantity of herrings caught, a premium of twelve Ihil* lings and three-pence, three farthings /^r barrel; and this kind of barrels are worth, upon an average, about a guinea.f Thus the le- giflature paid four-fevenths of the market price of a barrel of herrings, as a bounty to the perfons who caught them. Two- thirds of the bufs-caoght herrings are exported ; and here, a fecond bounty is given, of two (hillings and eight-pence /^-r barrel. , The average number of veifels employed for thefe elevei. years was about one hundred and ninety-nine. " Three thousand bus- *» s Bs have been known to be employed in one year by the Dutch in the " (Scots) herring fifhery.befides thofe fitted out by the Hamburgh- ** crs, Bremeners, and other northern ports.;):" By the efliroate of Sir Walter Rawleigh, already cited, a Dutch bufs carries fixteen hands and two-thirds. If we compute that the veifels engaged in onr fifhery by foreign nations amount^ all together, to four thoufandj and that each carries only twelve hands, here 'are forty- eight thoufand foreign failors reaping the maritime harveft of Scot- land. The bounty firft promifed by parliament for veffels, was fif- ty (hillings per ton. Mr. Guthrie fays that <* the bounty waswith- *< \\t\<^ from year to year, while in the mean time the adventurers ** were not or^Xy fink'mg their fortunes^ but alfo borrowing to the ut- " tmft limits ofthfir credit."^ It was then reduced tO thirty (hil- lings. The veifels are fitted out from the north-weft parts of Eng- land, the north of Ireland, the ports of Clyde, <* and the neighbour- " i"g iftf^fds"^ It thus appears, in oppofition fo whit was faid above,f that the Hebridcans are not '* entirely out of the quef- ** tion," as to the bounty. But the whole aftair is an abfolute tri- fle, fince the Hollanders fend cut ten or fifteen times as many buff-s twithout ofiy bounty^at all, as the Britilh parliament can. colled by a bounty equal to four-fevenths of the value of ill the herrings tal^; ^^■ ♦ lU.uftrations of the report, p. i8g. + Inquiry, Book iv. chap, 5. "^ Guthrie's Geographical Grammar. Art. Scot LAND, p. 4T. ^ Ibid. I Supra. Art. Islai^ds of Scotla|}»m 11 Ibid. ^, ( 47 ) (( (( <« «( it $ #' befides the remiffion pf fait; duties,* and a fubfequcnt bounty on exjportation. Mr^ Guthrie Complains with jullice, that " this uoblc « inftitution, (viz. the bounty,) ftill labours under many difficulties) •* from the caprice and ignorance of the legiflature." Thus an hun- dred thoufand feamen, and perhaps a million of fubjedls arc loft to Britain. A committee of the Houfe of Commons, in one of their reports, acknowledge, ** that the prefent duties upon coals are too high, and *< operate more as a prohibition on the ufe of the article, than as a ** betiefit th the rrveftueA" The confeouences of the coaUtax are fpecided in many pafTages of the ftatiftical account of Scotland. Perhaps the greateft barrier againft houfhold induilry and manu- fadure among us, is the ftarcity of fuel in many parts of the country. A human being, pinched with cold, when confined within doors, is always an inaSiive being. The day-light during winter, is fpentby many of the women and children in gathering eldiwgy as they call it ; that is, fticks, furze, or broom, for fuel ; and the evening in warming their (hivering limbs before the fcanty fire it produces. Could mr legtjlators be conduced through ** this pariih, (Kirkenrer, in thit county of Wigton,) in the win- " ter months, could the lords and eommonst during the Chriflmas re- ** cefs, vifit the cottages of the poor through thefe parts of the " umted kingdoms, where nature hath refufed coal, and their laws « have more than dmhled the price of it, this would be Shakefpeare's " twh^fome phyfc, and would, %iore than ?iny thing elfe, quicken '< their invention to*fiq|j^ways and means for fupplymg the place of *^ the 'worfl6flarws*'% auch legiflators ought to be Tent to bride- well during the recefs, and to remain there, fed on bread and water, and without fire or candle, to thejend of the feffion. Dr. Smith, in his Theory of Moral Sentiments, remarks, that the great nerjetC .^ On Scots fah* the duty is one (hilling and flz-pence per bufliel, on foreign fait ten (hillings. The latter chiefly if' confutned by the buifes. f Appendix to Dr. Anderfon's account of the Hebrides, p. 330. •<,>' \ StJtiftical Account, vol. iv. p. 147. The work fwarms with complatnu on this head. This (imple paftor appears ta know but little of Briti(h lords and commons, when he appeals to their fenfibility. Take notice to what follows, ** A late ball given by lord Courtney, coft (ix thonfandf uineas. Ho had, among '* other rarities, a thoufand peaches at a guinea each, a thoufand pottles of cherries " at five (hillings each, a thoufand pottles of (Irawberrres at five (hillings each, and " every other article in the fame proportion." London Newfpapers, 5th May, 1792. — Another newfpaper, fome time ago, had this article. *• To fuch a degree of perfection arc dog- kennels now brought, that one lately " builtby Sir William Rowley, athisfeat in Suffolk, covers four acres of ground. ** Among other accommodations for hh hounds, he has ere^ed a warm bath, through ** 4ivhich each dog is regularly purified, alter each day's chafe." A^endosa, thebruifer, fome time ago refufed lb fettle the terms of a boxing- inatch, until he had confulted bjp intimate frltfid, the duke of l^Unilton. A letter from him to this tSt&t appeared in the public prints, (fis grKe, not long after, invited iisjriend.ta a vifit at the place of Hamilton. One day, after dinner, th« ( 4? ) I cvnfider their ififerhrSiOs their fello'Vo criat^f^, ^^^k\it Bfitlfll land* holders illuHrate, on all occafions, the veracity* of l^b maxim. In England, this tax on coals, when tranfported by fea» |ias been ve- ry hurtful. " One would think" fays lord Kaims^-^^that it Vi'as in- " tended to check population. — One may, at the flrft glance dtf- " linguifh the coal counties from the reft of England, by the in. ** dultiy of the inhabitants, and by plenty of roanufa^uring town* *' and villages.'** ' . In the year ending on the 5th of January, 1789, the fait duties for Scotland, produced in whole Salaries, incidents, bounties and drawbacks. Net produce of the fait tax -* - ^.18043 8749 o 9 III 9293 10 1 4+ Dr. Andcrfon hasjuft now puWiihcd a ftate of the bounties paid annually by government, upon the Scots fiflieries, and of the pre- miums, upon the exportation of Scott herrings,^ They amount, in round numbers, to tnjiitnty-t cofts the public annually The keeper of the great fesd - The keeper of the privy feal The lord juftice general .-. - - The lord regifter - *%^ - - -;- The commander in chief of the lifcea in North-3titain '» The vice-admiral - - - . -^ « The knight mari&hal - - - . y^i • The figui *:>office is a Jirfd tax upon the public, and it no# nets to the keeper, Mr. Dundas * - The fafine-ofiice, the tees of which are a feconditiie^ tax, nets to its keeper about two thoufand pounds, be- fides a falary from government, of ^wo huncbred^ :M» £» 1000 3000 3000 2000 1200 I40O 1000 400 3000 more 'S* - ;-|l»oOf; l8,2( ill"- Every one of tbefe places ir in abfoMte fmecure, the duties , of vi^ich are not difcharged by the perfons who receive the aamftl Some of them have nothing to do, but in every one of them, where, bufinefs is really tranfa^e^^ t^e deputies are paid over and above^ and fometimes very extravagantly, at the aJdi/ionai txpence of the public. The total charge to the nation for thefe ten bubbles extends, as above fpecified, to eighteen thoufand, two bundled and fixty pounds fterling per annum. Thus hath one part of us been loaded with the plunder of the reft. Thus are fix or eight hundred thou- fand Scots people kept in a ftate of comparative beggary, by the fayment of fait and coal duties, whfle fix or eight folitary penfioneS xiot on the robbery of the poor. * ♦ The Bee. vol. xi. p. a6. i Hiftor; of the Public Reveone. part III. chap. 6. ' ( 50 ) But, the praftice of granting enormous penfions, has been carried infinitely farther in England, than on the north of Tweed. As the fubjeffl IS but imperfedly underftood, it may be worth while to compare the Brobdignag peculators of London with the Lilliputians of the fame kind in this country. For this end, we may confult a curious and authentic aflembl^e of evidence publifhed ^^by paidni- ment. During the war with America, they appointed commiflion- ers to examine the (late of public uccounts. The. office was per- formed with fidelity, and the reports were publifhed. In the uxth report, we learn, that the auditor of the exchequer received in the year 1780, from his place a clear profit of - j^. 141016 4 1 His firft clerk . . ... The clerk of the pells - - - . The four tellers of the exchequer, - The ulher of the exchequer - - - '2,752 - 7^597 29,267 4,200 3 12 4 X 4I Total to eight perfons, £. 57>^33 4 The commiifioners recommend theji abolition of this laft office. j They obferve, that ** the chief, ifl^t the only prefent duty of the I •* ufher, is to fupply the treafury aiid exchequer with ftationary and i <' turnery ware, and a variety of other articles, ind the exchequer 1 •* with coals, and to provide workmen for certain repairs." In ,1780, he jprovided articles and repairs to the amount of fourteen '' thoufand, four hundred and forty pounds, thrte (hiitings and iix- ; pence. On the articles, he was entitled to the very moderate com. niiffion of forty /i?r cent, ; (o that the poft muft, from the firft hour of its exiftence, have been defigned as a job. The net profits were, as above ftated, four thoufand guineas. The exaA fum pocketed by d||ft officers, and clerks of exchequer, in 1 7 80, clear of all deduc- tfons was, feventy-five thoufand, eight hundred and fixty-threc pounds, nineteen ihillings and three-pence, three fartlitn^ s, ilerling. The report fays, that in this year, the ineffeSiv' officers of the ex- chequer, received forty-five thoufand, three hundred and thirty-tniio founds. This account is too favourable. We hav c juft feen, that fifty-fcveti thoufand, eight hundred and thirty-three pounds, four fhilling^, were divided amonjf eight ' perfons. Of thefe, the only man cnbufinefsisthe firft clerk to the auditor, and even he has a falary ten times as large as any merchant would pay to a mere ac- comptant. The exchequer contains feveral other clerks with con- fiderable incomes. The four firft clerks to the four tellers, -ceived I among them, in 1780, five thoufand, two hundred and :ty-onc (pounds, and eight-pence three farthings. From this gci ral fur- Ivey, it may be fufpeftcd, that the whole duties of the exchequer jmight be performed for a tenth part of the wages now paid, as even, Iby the prefent glimmering, we diftinflly perceive, that four-fiftlfe !«f the above feventy-five thoufand pounds are abforbed in fine-* 4l < 5« ) cures. In time of peacei the perquifites would be fomewhat lefs* but the labour would be lefs in proportion. Fifteen adive clerks, at five hundred pounds fterling each, could findi at their own chargesi the requifite aifiilantS) and actually perform the bufinefs. Thi$ fimple alteration would) in i78o> have faved to the public* fixty-eight thoufand, three hundred pounds. The largenefs of no- MMMe/fsuaries forms but the fag end of the flory. After ftating va- rious aUiiresi thfi, report goes on in thefe words, " There fttU remain to be made upf the accounts oi four treafu- ** rers of the navy, to the zmo\xvAoiffty-eight millions, nine hundred ** and f(Mrty*fojtr thou/andifove hundred and eighty-eight pounds, and of « three pay mailers general of the forces^ amounting to four millions^ « fix hundred and fixty-fix thoufand) eight hundred and fev^nty- « five pounds^ exclufive of the treafurer and paymafter-general in *f ofiice; to the firft of whom has been iffued, to the 30th of Sep- ** tember* I'^^Offixtten millions, frven hundred and eigbty-one ihott/an J, " iiJDo hundred andfeventetn pounds, and to the latter* to the end of *< the fame year, forty-three millions, two hundred and fifty- fhree thoM' ** fand, nine hundred and eleven pounds, and not one year's account of <* either is compkted. So, that of the money iffued to the navy, fe^ ** i pounds. The fourth report fa\s, that upon the 30th of September, 1780, tnjtn hundred and fifty-fix thoufand pounds were ftill due to the public by his reprefentattves, and on a computation of fimple intereft, at foot • percent, per annum, that the lofs to the nation by the money left ifr Jiis hands was, then, two hundred and forty-tight thoufand, three hundred and ninety- four pounds, thirteen fhillings, flerling ; as the pub* Jic have no claim for the intereft of money lodged with a paymafter, even after he isdifmiffed. Thus far the commiflioners of public ac 1 ( 5* ) counts. Now thinlc of thfe profecution of a (hipwrecked manner for the duty of fix bulhels of bonded fait.* It was comoionly faid that Mr. Richard Rigby, a late paymafterof the forces* cleared an- nually, feventy thoufand pounds, from hisoifice) chiefly by b«eping^ in his hands) immenfe fums of public money .+ What fignffy the minnows of Tyburn, contrafted with the leviathans of t&.e;xclr- quer, fporting in an ocean of feventeen millions fteriing a y^Tf ** In all the great monarchies of Europe, thecf are ftW many large trads of land which belong to the crovm. The^irre gene- rally foreft; and fometimes for^, where* after travelling fevc- ral miles, you will fcarce find a finglt tree ; a mere f^e and lofsi of country in refpedl both of produce and j^putatidi, lit every ** great monarchy of Europe, the fale of the crown lands would " produce a very large fum ofmm^. — The crown lands of Great-> " Britain, do net at prefent aSoxa the fourth part xA the rent, which *< could probably be 'drawn from them* if tney were the property " of private perfons."! This would be abetter way to raife money, than by taxing (hopkeepers and pedlars. It has been computed thix the crown lands of Britain could be raifed in their value by fetting them on proper leafes, or by felling them off entirely^ to a rent of four hundred thoufand pounds a year^ more than their prefent va- lue; but it would be hazardous to warrant this'vqgae emmation. When fo great a part of the revenues and refonrcesof a nation are thus miferably call away, there muft be fomewhcre in the fame poli- tical body, a large proportion of diftrefs. Accordingly, Dr. Daye- nant computes, that twelve hundred tnoufand people in England »- ceive alms.j Dr. G(4dfmi*b, in hts Hidory of Animated Nature, gives^a calculation, that in London, two thoufand perfons die every yciLr of hunger. Dr. Johnfon fays, that in 1759, the jails of En|^- isnd contained twenty thoufand prifoners for debt.|| He conjec- tures, that ftve thouiand of thefe debtors perifhed annuallv in prt- fon. Dr. Wendcborn ftates, as a wonted computation, that* Lon- don contains forty thoufand common proftitutes. It (hekers fome thoufands of highwaymen, pick<-pockets and fwindlers, of alt kin^ who gain a regular fubfiilence by the exercife of their talents. Theie things are the natural conftquence of crown lands lying wafte, «nd of an hundred and forty-two millions fterling unaccoanted for. In fuch a condition, we give an hundred and eighty thoufand poun4a* fterling, at a fingle dalh, to pay the debts of a thoughtlefs yoonj^ man. In Holland and Switzerland, beggars, and prilon^rs for frebt . . • Supra, p. 26. + Thefe reports are inferted irt fucceflive volumet of the New Annual Rfgifter. A ftrther analyfts of fome of their cootenti will appear in the fecond MTt of this \'H>rk. I Inquiry into the nature and uufes ot the Wealth of Nations. Book v . chip. 2. part I. ^ SketcheioftheHlftoryof Man. vol. 1. p. 479. H Idler, No. jf . The nithor adds in a note, thaT'Cnce 6i^ writingi he had fpuod rcafon to qucftion the calculation. i S3 ) are much lefs numerous than in England, becaufe the Dutch and the Swifsj are more wife, more happy* and) to all rational purpo- fes, more free, than the Britilh nation. If half the panegyrics pro- nounced by Britons upon themfelves are true, genius and virtue can very feldom be found beyond the limits of this blefled ifland. As to civil liberty, an Englilh writer on "that topic, begins by fuppoiing, that it is confined excluHvely to the Britifh dominions. From thefe mifcellaneous remarks, we proceed to the corn law, lately pafled. No part of our political fyftem has been an objeft of more clamorous applaufe than the bounty granted by parliament on the exportation of Britifh grain. It is faid that this bounty was an encouragement eflentially requiiite for the intereft of the fanners becaufe without it, they wouid not venture to raife a fufficient quantity of corn for home confumption. By giving a bounty on exporting it, the farmers were always certain of a market ; and it was fuppofed, that, but for the profpet^ of this refource, they would very often forbear to raife it. The profound policy of thit expedient has been extolled by lord Kaims, by Sir John Dalrymple, and by a crond of other writers, whofe very names would fill a (heet of paper. Others confider the bounty on exporting corn, as one of the mofl formidable engines of opprefCon, that arillocracy has ever difcharged on the rights of mankind. The more that the principles offititifh policy are examined, the more fhall we, like Rochefter, be convinced that, ** Dutch prowcfs, DaniHi wit, and Brtt!/h policy^ *' GreatNoTHiNG ! mainly tend to thee. " The empires of Japan and China are much better cultivated than the Britiih iflands. They know nothing of any fuch bounty. An- cient Egypt, and likewife Hindoflan, before the Ead-India comp». ny haddeflroyed thirty-fix millions of its inhabitaiua, were exam- ples of the fame kind. In thefe countries, and others that might be named, agriculture has ad«'ance«l to high perfedlion ; while, at the fame time, the farmers of England mufl be bribed to the plough. There appears anabfurdity on the very face of this fuppofition ; for it is as reafonable to fay, that the peopl^ of Britain cannor, like the Japanefe, walk without crutches, as that their farmers will not, ii'ce thofe of Japan, raife as much com as they can, unlefs they are hired to it by the ftate. Dr. Smith, in his Inquiry into the Wealth of Nations, hath combated this com bounty. Poillethwaite alfo, in his ilidionary, has apafTage tothe fame purpofe ; and as the bulk of his book may have prevented fome people from reading it quite through, we fhall extradl a few remarks on the corn laws. •* There is no complaint more common among our merchants, ** than that foreigners underwork us in almofl every kindof manu- " fafture; and can we be furprized at it ? when the general tcn- << dency of our laws, is to make labour dear at hmr, and cheap •' abroad: when we either forbid our people to work> or oblige H ( 54 ) «' them to work in the moft difadvantageous manner ; when we " lay all our taxes on trade, or* which is ftill worfe for trade, on •* the necfjfarips of life; and when we contrive to feed the labourers^ " manufaflurers, and feamen of foreign countries, with our corn at *' a cheaper rate than our otua people can have it ' To raife tlw ** price of corn at home, in whatever manner it is done, is the fame « thing as to lay a tax on the confumption of it ; and to do that in " fuch a manner as leflTens the price of it abroad, is to apply this •* tax to the benefit of foreigners."* The bounty paid by law on the exportation of corn hath amounted^ in a lingle year, to one hundred and fifty thoufand pounds.+ Weekly accounts of the average prices of corn, in different parts of Britain, are publifhed by authority of parliament. Before wc examine the law fo lately pad on this head; it is proper to look into thefe weekly reports. We ihall thus learn upon what fort of information the legiflature went and how far they were quali- fied, by a previous acquaintance with the Hate of the co' trade, to make lavs concerning it. For the county of Northumberland, there were tyo returns of average prices of oat-mcal, during the week which ended on the 28th of April, 1 792. A boll weighs an hundred and forty pounds avoirdupois. At Hexham, in Northumberland, the price of a boll was faid to be twenty-eight (hillings and eight-pence. At Berwick upon Tweedj i.i the fame county, and ^t the didance of no more than fixty miles, the average price, at the fame time, was only eleven Jhillings and nine-pence. If thefe accounts of prices were ac- curate, it woulu hi^v^ been an excellent trade to 'ranfport corn from 'Berwick to Hexham, where it would give more than double the fame price. An hundred pounds employed in this way, muft have leturned a clear profit of an hundred and forty-four and two-fevenths fer cent, fubtrafting only the expense of carriage. The me- dium is ftruck between thefe two, rate*, and twenty (hillings and two-pence per boli, is returned as the average price of oat-meal, for the county of Northumberland. Nobody will believe, or pre- tend to believe, that both thefe reports arc genuine. It is very likely that both are untrue. There is a conftant intercourse between Hexham and Berwick, and the feveral every part of the county, are invariably *and known. To fancy th6n fuch a difference in the rate like believing that the water colle<^ed behind a dam will keep at itR former heieht, when the dam itfelf hath been removed. The phylical abfurdity of the one fuppofition, is not greater than the moral abfurdity of the other. In the fame week, a boll of oat- meal, at Beriuick, in this very county of Northumberland, is ftatod, by the weekly report, at three pounds, two ihillings and (bc- * DiAionary, vol. i. p. $69. ■f Sketchciof thcHiftory of Man, vol. i. p. 49a. prices, in univerfally of corn, IS *•• rhen we lAcf on 3ourers» corn at life the he fame that in ply this ' law on to one nt parts lore we 3pcr to vhat fort re quali- rade, to ;turns of 1 on the r pounds of a boll Berwick 10 more ^as only were ac- orn from ble the ft have fevenths le mc- ngs and at-meal, or pre- is very rcourfc es, in IverfaUv |corn> IS Ikeep at The [ban the of oat- s ftatad, Ind lix- i 5S ) pence. Thus, b^ carrying oatmeal from the one Berwick to tl other, a pro6t might have been gained of more than four hundred ^r cent. The following are the prices in the reports of the fame weeky ror fome other places. For Weftmoreland, fourteen fhiUingsandfeven- •pence; for Herefordftiire, fifty-five Ihillings and two-|«nce; inLan« cafter, fourteen (hillings and eleven-pence ; in Salop, fifty IhilUngt and eleven-pence; in Cheftcr, fifteen ihillings and a penny; in Bedfordftiire, fifty ihillings and feven-pcnce. Thefe reports, pub- lilhed by the perfons a^ing under parliament^ are of equal au- thenticity with Robinfon Crufoe. Yet, as we ihall immediately perceive, the fubfiftence of millions of people may depend on the accuracy of theft identical weekly reports.* The new corn law commenced its operations, on the 1 5th of November, 1791. In every ftage it had received an obftinate op- pofition. On one claufe, a committee of the houfe of commons were equally divided, fixty-two on each fide, and the vote of the chairman decided againft it. The a6t, asnowpublifhed, fills eigh- ty-four folio pages of confufion and repetition.+ fiy the aififtanceof fome gentlemen, I have been enabled to form an analyfis of a part of ire -on rents. i 1: 'time country of England and Wales is, by this law, di- videt .A'clve diUrids; and all Scotland into four. Tofimplify the difcuffion as much as poflible, let us confine ourfelves at prefent, to the firftnf the four diftrids of Scotland. It comprehends the countiesof Fife, Kinrofs, Clackmannan, Stirling, linlithgow, Edin- burgh, Hadington, Berwick, Roxburgh, Selkirk, and Peebles. Suppofingthat a fcarcity of provifions fhould prevail in the (hire of Edinburgh, wheat, for inftance, cannot be imported into it from any foreign country, till the average prices of wheat have been a(l certained over the eleven counties v\ ith which it fi)rms a difiHA^ It muft be proved, to the fatisfaflion of the ftieriff depute of the counrf i" that the average price of wheat is fifty fliillings p'^r quarter ; for, ifit is imported, when the price is lower than that fum, there is a duty off the importation, of twenty-four ihillings and three-pence, which is equivalent to a prohibition. But though the public (hould really be Itarving, and wheat extravagantly dear, the real price of it can ofily be aicertained to the (heriff depute, by thefe weekly returns above ftated, which arc of as much adual authority as the croaking of a parrot. This is the exprefs injuncfiion of the fiatute. Now it muft be obferved, that in this diltrift, fertile and barren counties are injudicioufly clafled together. Of the eleven above- mentioned, only Fife, Edinburgh and Hadington produce, in ge- ^ • Thefe particular! of the weekly reports were firft publifhed by Dr. Anderfon, ' in the Bee, vol. ix. p. 96. -f The remark of Lord Thurlow, above quoird, was perfei^ly jaft. Many an a£t of parliament, would, as a compofnion, difgrttct /cbevl-ityt. M ( 56 ) « Hffral good grain. That of th<^ other eight counties is oftra at th« rate of ten or twelve (hillings ^^rr boll, when the grain of Fife, or Edinburgh, fells at eighteen {hillings. Pl.. the cale then, that the wheat of Edinburgh has rifen to fifty (hillings, and an importatiotT is wanted from a foreign country. "* No," fays the (heriffdepiitQ of the county. •* The grand broker of Weftminfter cleans, viz, " the hetrven-born miniflert the jockey peers cf Newmarket, with f* proxies in Veir pockets, and the focket-Uft reprefentatives " of St. Mav a and Old Sarum, have ordered things better. They " have deoated and fcolded among themfelves, upon this fubjet^ji <* for three months. By two majorities often or fifteen votes out oi eight hundiedi they have produced a permantnt corn zik, an a^ of which they boaft, as the mafter-piece of legiilation. Se-ven en- tire Jiatutes have been repealed to make room for it. This laco- nic law has three or four hundred claufes, which Oedipus « could not have explained^ and S)aionides could not have reniiem- ** bered. By one of thefe articles, you are not to import wheat, « though you may be ftarving for want of it, till the wheat ol ** Peebles and Clackmannan, has mna.\ted from its prefent rate of <• thirty (hillings per quarter, up to forty. By that time, your own <' muft have rifen to fixt^. We fhall then ftrike the medium, and « fuffer you to import it, for a duty of half a crown per quarter^ «* You need not grumble. The people of Orkney and Shetland are « infinitely worfe off. Among tnem, an ear of cum is an obje^ of <* aftonilhment ; and it is as much inferior in quality to that of Pee- <* bles, as the latter is inferior to yours. You are permitted to «* import oats, when yourc rife to feventeen (hillings z^^" quarter, « for a duty of only one (hilling, which goes to make up the half «* guinea //T day toWeftminller bludgeon- men, and the four thou- « land guineas per annum to the uiher of the exchequer. But when ;<( the oats of Orkney, are nominally at feventeen (hillings, they <* are in reality dearer than yours, when at twenty-five or thirty « (hillings. In a word, you are gracioufiy permitted to eat breaa, " perhaps a third part cheaper, than thofe beggarly iflanders. '( Mark the fuperior felicity of your fituation ; and let your hearts " glow with gratitude to the bed of princes." The admiring ci- tizeris hear their magiftrate with filent rapture, ai blefs their (lars thai they were born under the 6riti(h conftitution. N. B. His lord- ihip, notwith((anding his conftituticnal good nattire, had juft then enaured five or fix of them to be (hot, in honour of has majefty's birth-day.* — The fallacy of the corn returns has already been men- tioned, and we perceive what infinite mifchief they may poffibly commit. The wheat in the county of Edinburgh may be returned at twenty-five (hillings per quarter, when the real price is fifty %t fixty, and thus importation may be prevented. In Cbtfleiuftreet, George'i-f^uare. They had been burning an efSgy of ftraw. ( 57 ) Mftraw; Thereii anothdr circumftance in thk law that deferves att The wheat, oatik arid barley of England at^e* In qaality, far fujpe^ lior (.v ours. Tnis is well known to every bakerand brewer. A| 'this momentt Edinburgh brewers are buving Engliflibarley ateighl (hillings per boll higher than is given for barley of Scqu 'produce taking the prices of the different counties at a medium.^ jfhe for- mer is of fuperior value by fifty or eighty ptr cent. In Kent> Norfolk, and the other counties of England, fubjeifl to this Uwt the wheat is twenty-five ter cent, better than that ot Scot- land. To make the ftatutc equitable, therefore, the people of North- Britain ought to have iropocted wheat, when it was at forty Ihillings per quarter, while England ihould not have been allowed an importation, till Englifh wheat had rifen to fifty (hillings^ <* This is what a wife and virtuous miniftry would have done and ' '* faid. This, therefore, is what our minifter could never think of <* faying or doing.'** Engliih grain of all kinds ought to have been rated> for tqe licence of importation, at twenty or twenty-five ptrcent, higher than Scot! grain. The plain meaning of the law ' By the late com afi, it is in <* the power of any cuftom-houfe officer ftationed there, (in the << Highlands and Hebrides,) to ftarve nearly half a million of pce^ ' <* pie for want of food, almoft luhtn be plea/es."^ It would require an uncommon degree of penetration, to determine whether the au- thors of this aft arc fitteft for bedlam or the Old Bailey. If the inoft inveterate enemies to human happinefs, had confulted for agev to- fsther, they could not have devifed a more decifive method, than y this bill, for reducing the labouring part of the Scots nation to the lad extremity of poverty and wretcnednefs. With regard to the probable coniequences of this corn law, here- after, we may judge of the future by the paft. " During fome " years previous to the peace of Ryfwick, (which was concluded in *< 16(^7,; the price of corn in England was doublet and in Scotland V " quadruple its ordinary rate ; and in one of thefe years, it was be- |» lieved, that in Scotland eighty thtufand people dud of'waut,"X * Burke's fpeech on the crcditora of tht Nabob of Arcot. + Bee, vol. 1 1. p. 34. X , Memoin tf C, Bf itsia and irelati, by Sir Juhn Dalrjrmpk, p«rt 1 1 1 . book v . r 58 r A tenth part of the expewce of one of the Britifli campaigns in Flan- ders, would have averred from this iiland fo drdldful a calamity. In Aberdeenlhire, the confequences of this famine may ftill tie tra-, ced. Whole i^milies expired together^ and the boundaries ofde« ferted facms^were forgotten. To afcertain them is, at this day» fometimesan objed of difpute. The land bears the marks of the plough ; but, having been fo long neglc(f^ed, has relapfed into its original ftate ofbarrennefs; and is now covered witbheath, among which may bedifcovered the remains of the dwelling honfes of the exterminated inhabitants. Thefe extraordinary circumftances have not been obferved by any formet writer. They were related to me by Dr. Anderfon, who has an eftate in the county of 'Aberdeen. We may be perfuaded, that in the other three years^dfthis famine, at leaft twenty thoufand additional perfons perifhed of hunger ; fo that this reckoning of extirpation amounts altogether to one hun- dred thoufand lives. Much noife has been made about the maflhcre of Glenco, and the tragedy of Daricn. This famine was a difafter infinitely more terrible than thefe, yet it has been recorded with far lefs clamorous lamentation. By the greater part o$ the hiftorians of that period, no notice whatever has been beitowed upon it. Yet, if William the Third, his minifters, and his |Mirliaments, had been penetrable to human feelings, they would have put an end to the war, for the fake of putting an end to the famine. They might hav? done fo on the mod honourable ierms. Had William accepted the offers of Louis, ** the war of the firft grandalliance would hivc ended /bur j/ears/oener «* than if in di- " K&. oppofition to the necelTities of the nation. A divcrfion it ** made of millions of the public money from the public treafury to « a private p^fie." A detail of the obliquities of this Union» woum extend the prefent chapter beyond its proper limits. A full account of it wffl |»e given m the courfe of this work, when a regular hiftoricai narrative commences, beginning with the year 1 6 88, and ending at the p?efent fplendid aera. Without regard to perfons, to parties, or to public opinions, I (hall there, as every where elfe, hold up truth to the world, as (he rifes on my refearches* in the naked (implicity of her charms. After fuch a review, curirifity nay lead us to enquire, if the Scots government had been hone(lly> cqiuluAed, for the laft hun- dred years, what, by rhis time, ScMand Hft^ might have been f Li order to take a proper view of this fubje£^, we muft begin by re- colle^ing, that fince the revolution, Britain hath ipcnc forty-two years in adual war with other nations of Europe, over and above the campaigns in America, and the quarrels of the Eaft-India com- pany. Frequent armaments have befides taken place, which* though they did not end in blood(hed> were ftill very expendve ic^^ the public, and very di(lre(fing to commerce. Britain has been ei- ther fighting, or preparing herfelf to fight, for fixtv-five or feventy years out of one hundred. The minds of the people have been kept in a ftate of inceffant fermentation. Their property has been the per- petual fport of ruinous taxes. We never have enjoyed peace for fo long a time together, as was requifite for learning its full advanta- §es. Britain refembles a common bully, who ipends five or fijc ays of the week on a boxing ftaget and the red of it, in an excife court or a correAion houfe. In mite of all this folly, the wealth of the country has been continually increafing. ** From the refto- " ration to the revolution, the foreign trade of England had dmt- ** bled'm its amount ; from the prace of Ryfwick to the demife of , " king William, it had nearly nfen in the fame proportion. During "« the firft thirty years of the current century, it had again iouhh^t* (although three wars, fifteen campaigns by land or fea* a Scottiih rebellioni and fix naval armaments for the fialtic^ had intervened. i 60 ) »« ¥tpm the yean 7 50 to 1774, notwithftanding the interruptions ^•* oi oHHght yef^rs infervenient ouar,'* (viz. from 175610 1763,) " it *» appears to have gained more than one-fourtht whether we deter- *« mine from the table of tonnage or the value of exports."* We can hardly conceive how very greatly firitiih commerce muft have augmented by this time, if it had not been retarded by thefe abfurd J|uarrel9. As to the taxes, it has been already obferved,f thatevefy um of money raifed from the public cofts them ten per cenu The tradefmen who pays the tax muft, upon a medium, clear thb profit by his capital, and if he can (hove the tax upon his cuftomers, by raifing the price of his commodities, it comes exafUy to the fame point at laft, as thtir adlive capitals are diminiihed in proportion. The greater part of the money fpent in war is employed in the pur- chafe of provifions and military ftores, which are confumed in tfie courfe of the quarrel, and large fums are al^vays tranfmitted in hard ca(h out of this ifland. Thus a capital is transferred from the moft nfeful and beneficent, to the moft favage piirpofes. Inftead of building farm-houfes, draining marfhes, and inclofing corn-fields, inftead of feeding the hungry and cl(xithing the naked, inftead of employing the idle, and animating the bufy, of fupporting the in- duftry, and embelliftiing the elegance of life) it is deftined to bribe the brutality of a prefs-gang, or Hfo pamper the rapacity of a cono- traAor, to haften the difcharee of bombs, the explofion of mines, jind the ftormins; of batterfeiloaded with grape ihot. Transferen- ces of this kind are infinitely numerous, and the conclafion feems evident. War is a two-edged fword plunged through the heart of fociety, and cutting both ways, equally to be avoidi^ for the mife- ry which it produces, and the happinefs which it prevents.]: In fcfen years, from September i774> to September 1780, inclu- fivey the number of men raifed for the Britifh army, was 76,885 - - - 176,008 ditto for the navy Total 25z,893§ The American war lafted for more than two years after this efU- mate was made, fo that the whole number of men raifed muft have been at leaft three hundred thoufand. Dr. Franklin, in a letter to Mr. Vaughan, fays, that feven hundred Britifh privateers, whofe * An Eftimateofthe Compararive Strenf;th af Britain, by Geoiige Chalmers, Eff* p. 46. f Vide Introduction. X Mr. Burke, feme years ago afTerted, that fix hundred thoufand pounds )»frr«e hundred and fifty thoufand. When a corps is raifed, and fent oi^iaf the Biittih iflandtvto adiuai fervice, it feldom happens that moi thanafixth, a tenth* orn twentieth part of the men, ever conic _ home again, and even of thpfe who do {o, one half are frequeniAj? invalids and penfioners, or beggars. Dr. Johnfon, in his Tcpr through Scotland, relates, that ta the war of 1756, an Higliland re* giment, confifting of twelve hundned men, was fent to North Ame- rica, and that of thefe, oiilyy^i;/'»/y;^"feturned. Dr. Franklin, in a fhort effay on war, obferves, that privateer men, " arc rarely fit m^ « for any fobcr bufinefs after a peace, andlCerve only to increafc «« the number of highwaymen and houfe-brerikcrs." From thefe particulars, we may infer, that at leaft three lUindfcd tlioufand . perfons wete loft to the Britifli nation, whofe lives, in fee-fimple, were worth ninety millions llerling. Of this acconnt,a fifUN pftt may fafely be ftated as the (hare of Scotland ; fo that the feven liii»di campaigns, coft an expence of vScots blood, te the value of eightel millions ftcrling. The war 'might have been avoided with the greateft facility. In the hillorical regifter of Edinburgh, fvjr the month of December, 1791, there is a curious calculurion, founded on the authority of Sir John Sinclair'ls ftatiftical reports. By this, it becomes very probable, that Scotland contains ninety-fix thoufand females more than male^. It is known, that the number of boys bom exceeds that of girls ; and hrnce this deficiency rauft be afcrib- edto war and cmigfation. It has been Hated above, that more than fix hundred thouland pounds of taxes raifed from the Scots, arc fairly carried into the Britifh exchequer, and our abfentees at Lon- don, who fpend the rent of their cftates in that receptacle of profli- gacy, may be eftimated at an additional three hundred thoufand pounds /«r 0//v///». Tlie total fum raifed in Scotland, during the yctt 1788, by government* was about one rt-iillion and ninety thoufand pounds. This includes a conjet'tural article of one hun- dred and thirty thoufand pounds as the duty paid upon goods manu- I J ( ^t ) , ired in England} tax«d therC) and fent ^own to Scotland fix >n(binpltion. Of the one million and ninety thou(knd pounds fter- Bnl;) aoout fix hundred and thirty thoufand pounds went intfaat »year iato the'£ngli(h exchequer. Tbe remaining fom hundred and ^ '^xCf thou^nd pounds, if managed ^yith qeconomyf woidd havfly| *9^ been much more than fuflkiant for all the purpofes of civil goveri^ ment, and the fix hundred thoafand guineas^ might have heen far- ed to the puUic. If the union had never exifted, the three hun- \*; dred thoufand Y)\all^ii per annum for abfentees, virould Ukfwife have remained in Scotland. If we had enjoyed a wife, vlrtuott|) and in- dependent government, nine hundied thoufand pounds a year would have been retained in this poor, defpifed, and enflavql country* [^ which at prefent goes out of it. Shut up in a reinotiQ "peninfula* where nobody comes to moleft us^ we, Scotfmen, ha?e no natural bufinefs with Falkknd's iflands^ xm Nootka Sound, with the wilds of Canada, or the/uburbs ofOcz^cKir. 'The farmers of Fife and Lanerk, hate little concern with |^ fqug^bles b^een Tipoo Saib, and a corporation of Englifh meiilifii^ti* % ^pl^erds in Galloway fpend their winter evenings without t^K, and weavers of Glafgow fo fupperlefs to bed* for the ftiKe'pF a Dutch frontier, and the alance of lifurpation betweefi {0erman tyrants. Forfiich wife ends, we pay fix handflBd;^Oiij|ind guineas a year. We are not fu&ned to fifli cod upt>n o/vx^f^n coafts,* but we fight eight or ten yeii-s at a ft retch for leaffMlo^catch it on the banks of Newfound- land. Sinpethe revola|fOu» Scotland has furniiKe^ the Biitifh army ' and navy witj^ thifi>^% four hundred thoufand recruits, while* at the fame Half) J^glind fufiered eighty thouland of our anceftort to die in a figle year, of hunger. The^ i^rticulars may afitft us in comprehending the deftruAion sdviifed to North-Britain by the prefent fyftem m adminiftration, ^tzerland is reported, in round numbers, to contain twelve thou- fand fquare mile^ and two millions of people. The foil is barren, and its furface encumbered with treraenduous mountains, yet every acre of land is improved. The beauty of the country, and the fe- licity of its inhabititnts, fill vHth rapture the pages of travellers, Nbrth>Brirain, and its weftem iflands, ex(:lufive of Orkney aad Shetland, form an area of at leaft thirty thoufand fquare miles. The money and the blood expended in fooliih wars, would bave converted the whole country, like theSwifs cantons, into gardens, corn-fields and paftures. In propoition tp the Helvetia |H>pulation, we (hould have amounted to five mi!]ians, befides another millicm fapported by the fiihcries, and by the manufactures to which they give fife. Inftead dtfibc mtUions, the number of people in Scotland does not exceed about fixteen hundred thoufand. This mournful'chapter is now approaching to a conclufion, I ihall only juft remind the reader of (he otafl^cie at CuUoden, where . f Snpra, p. 4*. ^ ■,t - 4 ( «l ) Hanoverian ferocity exhibited its utmoft horror. Aboat two tl £uid of the miferable rebels were cut to pieces. Thd wounded wet imtchered in cold blood. 1'he particulars muft be deferred till (onm future opportunity. By a verv ftran|;e aA of parliament, theduktfi| of Cumberland received for his fervices, a peniion of tyi^cnty-five thoufand pounds fterling, added to fifteen thoufand pounds* which. ht had before.* The ruffians, who performed fuch worki at fix- pence a day, were ftill more execrablethan thofe whofet them on. The toa4*eating Scots exulted in this tragical conftimmation of viftory, "The wretched newfpapers of that aera* were crouded with J verfes m praife of his loyal highnefs. The circumftances of the batw tie of CnUoden itfelf) and the mean and barbarous exultation which it produc4K>5 C H A ]^T E R III. Blachjlene — His idea of the Englijh Conftiiutiok^-mRtvolution in 1688—. siption of its Parliaments — Englijh Diffenterd^^Lanu-fuit ivith tbt AorrMi Corporation of London — Lord Mamfitld — His^ngular txprejpon as t« the French Hugunots — Birmingham — Scots aS of relief -^ur, Tatham, THE annals of Scotland prefent us with a feries of frightful 1 ^^ facres. For any purpofe of nnoral utility which it can an* fwer, the whole narrative had better be forgotten. During the laft forty years, one half of our hiftorians have exhaufted their talents to revile the memory ef George Buchanan, by far the ^reateft lite- rary charafter that North-Britain ever produced, to decide whether Maay Stuart wrote fome very ftupid letters in French and Latin, and whether Henry Damley was a cuckold i We ihall certainly find fuperior entertainment in the hiftory of England, which, as her poets and hiftorians tell us, hath always been the native feat of liberty. Here is a fpecimen. " During the reigns of Charles and James the Second, above ** fixty thoufand Non-conformifts fuffered, of whom fnje thoufand *' DIED IN PRISON. On a moderate computation, tbeie perfons ** were pillaged o£ fourteen millions of property. Such was the tole- ** rating, liberal, candid fpirit of the church of England."* This * FlfHRNir, on the French ConlUtutioB, p. 437. and hiiauthoritiet. '*ii ( H ) it it i' tc ft •%{mate cannot be intended to include Scotland) for it is likely duii here alone, Epifcopacy faciiJiced iixty thoufand viftims. Of aU forts of follies, the records of the church form the moft outrageoui burlefque on the human underftanding. As to Charles the Second* it is full time that we Ihould be fpared from the hereditary infult of a holiday for his baneful reftoration. At fi^e percent, of compound intereft, a fum doubles in fourteotlr years and one hundred and five days, or fcven times in a «cntttTy. Put the cafe, that thefe fourteen millions of property were taken from the Englilh diflenters at once, in 1 67 8, aid that they would have doubled eight times between that period, and the pref^t year, 1 792. This is taking the lofs on the mod: moderate td|ns. By iuch an account, the fe^, are at this day poorer, in confi^uence of Aefe peffecutions, than they otherwile would have been, by the fum of three thoufand, five hundred and eighty-four millions fter- ling. *< Our religious liberties were fully ellabliftied l^bc reformation: but the recovery ofour civil and politiqii lH^^es was a work of longer time ; they not being thoroqgyy and completely regain- ed till after the reftoration hfhing eak of Mr. Madifon as a di'vinity. They do not imagine, that fix or eight hundred years of botching were, as in England, requifite, before a political cub could be licked into any t^rable fhape, for two or three years at the utmolt, were employed in framing the prefent American conftitution. In the pafTage now quoted, Sir William * Commcntariet on the Laws of England, by Sir William Blackfton^. IV. chap, zxxiii. ' Book ( 6j ) nt Blackftoiie has only adopted the ordinary cant Ojf the Engl tion. If any member of Congrefs were to fpeak in M^h a Urain to the legiflative fyllem of that country, the whole afl^mbly would conilder him as pofittvely crazed. As tu the** happy revd|,ution," th^ reader may judge fiom what follows. *f Two hundred^!tboufand ** pounds a year hefimuedupon the parliament t have alread3^.ji6o3i|j 10 drawn out of the pockets of the fubjedls, moke money, than ^f nil our kings Juice the couquejiy have bad from the nation. The kingf <* (William,) has about fix fcore members, whom I can reckoiy* ** who ate in places, and are thereby fo entirely at hit devotioOK; <* that though they have mortal feuds, when out 0/ the hou/e, wadL* ** thoughthey are violently of oppofite parties, in their notimu « goverrmient* yet they vote as lumpingly as the lawonjleeoeu Tl <* houfe is fo officered by thofe who have places and penfions, tha|^ f* the king eun bafflle any bill, qua(h all grievances, and ftifle all " accompts,*** , As to the lawn fleeves, the twCMty-fix fees "of ^ England, are eflimated at ninety-two thoufand five hundred pount^s^ and the twenty-two Iri&fees» at fevemy>four thoufand poundsi which is in whole, one hundred and fixty-fix thoufand, f ye hundted pounds. On a medium,'%K;h of thefe parfons thus receive iiiree thoufand, four hundred and ^fixty-eight pounds, fifteen Ihillin^ fterling /^r <7»»«»f. ^ , *^ ■s^ The following law-fuit deferves particttlar notice, becar *. *\tk. proceedings which give rife to it, were not the a^ons of; ^vc\;r\i individual, bat compofed a deliberate cbnfpiiiracy by one great bodjl'ti of pe(^le in England, againft the property c^aiftotber. At the fame time It ferves to exhibit « the harmonious c*e^feurieiice, the ele- ** gant proportion, and the more curious rej^ment§ oi modem' »» <* art. In the year 1 748, the corporation of London rcfolved to^^uUd ki manfion-houfe. The fcheme required money, and to jprocatiyy| they paffed a by-law. They pretended to be anxious for gettkig Jit and able perfons to ferve the office of iheriff to the corporation, ^ and they impofed a fine of four hundred pounds and twenty marks upon every perfon, who, being nominated by .a^ lord-m^tyor, de- clined to fland the eledion in the common-hall. W.A. hundied poundi additional, were laid upon every perfon, who being ele^d by tfa^ common-hall, refufed to ferve that office, 'flie mies thus raiibd, were appropriated for building the manfic n-houfe. In coofequence of this law, fevcral difTenters were nominated, and elected to the office of iheriff. fiy the corporation adl, made in the the thirteenth,. year of Charles the Second, no perfon could be eledied as iheiilS unlefs he had taken the facrament, in the church of Eaglaml with- in a year, preceding the time of his eledlion. If he accepted the of- fice, without this qualification, be was exprefsly panifliable by the flatute. If a diiknter therefore had> iu virtue of fuch an elec- Burgh's Political Difquiiitions, vol. i. p. 405. ( 66 ) 1, a^cd as fliiariff, he would have been feverely chaftifed. Hence thegentlemenof that perfuafion refufed the pffice, and paid their fines, to the'amoutof more than fifteen ihbufand pounds fterling^ One of the pcrfons thus eleded wa? blind ; another was bed-ridden. Thefe were ihcfit and able perfons, whom the corporation of Lon- don chofe as (heriffs. The praftice went on for feveral years. This corporation of London had been an aflcmblage of the moft arrant (harpers, or fuch a projeft for building a manfion-houfe ne- ver could have entered into their minds. It is impoflible, that any mortal, poflefling a fpark of common honefty, Ihould have been con- jrerned in it. At latt, Allen Evans, JEfq. a diflenter, refufed to pay this Hne. An action was brought againft him iu the (heriff court of the corporation of London, and in September, 1757, judge- ment was given againft him. He appealed tu the court of huftings, another city court, and in 1759, the judgement was affirmed a fe- jcond time. At lall it came before the houfe of lords, where, on the 4th of February, 1767, it was finally fet afide. We are not informed whether Mr. Evans paid his own ctpences. If he did fo, it might have been chea^x^r for him to pM^ the fine. On this occa- fion,Tord Mansfield pronounced a fpeeclil; *' The defendant" faid his lordihip, '* was by law incapabtei at the time of his pretended <' election : and it is my firm perfuafion, that he was chofen ** becaufe he nvas incapable, IS he had been capable, he had not « been chofen ; for they did nbt want him to ferve the office. They « chofe him, becaufe, without a breach of the law, and an ufurpa- *« tion on the crown, he could not ferve the office. They chofe " him, that he miffht fall under the penalty of their by-law, made ^< to/erve a partkuTar purpofe. — By fuch a by-law, the corporation <• have i| in their power, to make every diflenter pay a fine of fix «* ^uMbed pounds, or anyfum they pleafe ; for it amounts to that."* ^r . In this fpcech, lord Mansfield exprefles th^ utmoft deteftation againft every kind of religious perfecution, as againft natural reli- gion, revealed religion, and found policy. He declares, that he never read, without rapture, the liberal fentimcnts of De Thou, on this fubje^. His lordfhip then adds thefe remarkable words. *' I *« am forry, that of late, his countrymen (the French,) have begun " to open their eyes, fee their error, and adopt bit feni'ments, I «* (hould not have broite my heart, (I hope I may fay fo, without «• breach of chri/iian charity,) if France had continued tocherilhthe «* Jefuits, and to perfeeutt the Hugutiots." When Nero fet fire to Rome, or when Caligula wiihcd that the Roman people had only one neck, they might have been partly e xcufed, as cither drunk or mad. Neither of thefe humble apologies can be advanced for lord l^ansfield. When the Tartan once conquered China, it was pro- pofed in a council of war, to extirpate the inhabitants, aiKl turn • Letters to the honourable Mr. juftice BUckftone, by Philip Furncaux, D. D. Appendix, No. a. # (.^7 ) n- *» I . -V It' wde D.a the country into pafture. As his lordfhip was not a Tartar, W)i| had any profpeft of driving a herd of cattle through France, he ftill remains without an excufe or motive, as to the tafe im poimii that could lead him to fuch a horrid fentiment. We (hall quit this fobjedl with a Ihort citation from The Sincere Huron, " He talked,*', fays Voltaire, " of the revocation of the cdift of Nantes with iV •* much energy, he deplored in fo pathetic a manner, the fate of " fifty thoufand fugitive families, and of fifty thoufand others* " converted by dragoons^ that the ingenuous Hercules could not re- «< frain from ftiedding tears." . It is foreign to the plan of this work, to enter into a detail of all the outrages which have been committed upon Engliih diflentern but there » an aiTertion in a letter publifhed by Grorge Rous, Efq* that cannot be pafled over. Speaking of the late /iots at Birming*,! ham, he has thefe words. " Government love an occaiional riot» " which, with the afliftance of the military, is eafily fuppreffed ; in <* the mean timet it alarms the votaries of a fordid luxury ; makes *< them crouch for proteAion ; and tearlies them patiently to endure <* evils impofed by the hand of power. Accordmgly, for more « than a month, preceding the 14th of July, all the daily prints in ** the intereft of the treajuryy lahoundto excite a tumult." He adds> « to let loofe the rigours of juftice, might have been a cruel fa* «« crifice of their friends " This gtotleman is a member of the houfe of commons, and of refped^able rhtra^er and abilities. He thus exprefsl) charges the Britilh miniftry with having excited iiu cendiaries to burn the houfes of peaceable citizens. The practice (tf Mr. Pitt, correfponds with the tneory of lord Nfjuufidd. An aft of religious toleration and relief, is to take place in Scot- land, within fix months after the id of July, 1792. It contains the following claufe. " If any perfonfhall be prefent twice in fhe^ ♦* fame year, at divine fervice, in any Epifcopal chapel or meetiiMur *' houfe in Scotland whereof the pallor or minifter ihall not pray in ** exprefs words for his majefty, by name, for hii majefty's heht " or fucceflbrs, and for all the royal family, in the manner herein ** before direfted, every perfon fo prefent, Ihall, on lawful con- *« vidtion thereof, for the firft offence, forfeit the fum of five ** pounds, flerling monei'." One half of the fine goes to the iiw former, and if the culprit cannot pay, he is to fuflfer fix months of imprifonment. For any future offence, conviflion produces two years of imprifonment. In virtue of this aA, it would be very eafy for a fwindling parfon to fleece his flock. He has only to get his cha- pel as completely filled as poflible, to place two or three informers in every corner of it, and then, in his prayers, to forbear all men- tion of his moft facred majefiv. If four hundred prrfons were pre- fent, this mieht be converted into a job of two thnufand pounds fterlinff ; «s the ftatute inakrs no excef^tinns in favour of thoic who ihouldinterrupt the parfun in the miUlt of the fdrvice. The prin- ( 6B ) ic^lil a^or^ the farce, might by connivance abfcond ; bat there frk ftill one difficulty unprovided for. The informers themfelves muft HvelMcti prefent at the perpetration of this crime, and therefore ;.4dl«y are equally guilty with the reft of the audience. It ought to jftc ftipulated, that every informer is, in the firll place, to receive his Pf»wn pardon. The reft of the ad is of a piece. 'I'he inftitution of Sunday-fchools, was at firft highly popular in England. The eftabliflied clergy have fince become jealouc- of the plan, and Mr. Rous, himfelf a churchman, gives, in his letter, fome authentic and Ihameful examples of this faft. Yhc church of £ngland, in fpite of many excellent charafters among ica divines, appears to be fomewhat lame in its political principles. Its cham-.^ |Mon, Dr. Tatham, one of the a^ing incendiaries at Birmingham, publiflied a letter fome time ago, which has thefe words. " It <« would be a terrible thing, indeed, if all the people of England •« (hould learn to read and write.'* CHAPTER IV. .. \ Ci'vil Liji — Accumulation of Fifteen Millions — Georpe the Fir/I — His liberal ideas of Government — George the Second — His hofpitality at the Burial of his eldeft Son, •* TT is impoftible to maintain that dignity, wliic!' • king of X " Great- Britain ought jto maintain, with an incOiti in any " decree /<^j than what is now eflablilhed by parliament."* Sir ^ John Sincl^r ^^ given a long account of the civil lift. By this, it * KtifptSiTs, that between two and three hundred thoufand pounds an- • lltially arc paid out of it, for efficient officers of ftatc, ambaftadors and judges, for example. In 1788, the royal family, with its fiddlers, chaplains, wet nurfes, lords of the bed-chamber, rockers, groom oftncftole, and nymphs of the clofe-ftool, a ftation worth forty- eight pounds a year, cof^ all together, about fix hundred and fixty ^ thoufand pounds ftcrHng. Mr. Burgh fpeaks in the following terms of the civil lift. j <• There we find places piled on plares, to the height of the tow- •* er of Babel. There wc find a matter of the houfehold, trcafurer ** of the houfehold, comptroller of the houfehold, cofferer of the «* houfehold, deputy-cofferer of the houfehold, clerks ofthehoufe- " hold, clerks comptrollers of the houfehold, clerks comptrollers «* deputv-clerks of the houfehold, office-keepers, chamber-keepers, " neceflary-houfe-keepers, purveyors of bread, purveyors of winc> ** purveyors of fifti, puivcyors of butter and eggs, purveyors of fff « u u (I (( (C fl « M (( %t a a t€ it it tt u tt •( «< tt tt tt tt tt c* tt * Blackftone's Cemncntariei, book i . chap. 8. !ja^-'' .- i of any Sir * , it \i an- t ow- urcr the lufe- Uers xrsi /inci s of ( 64 } ««- confe6lionarjr> iJeUverers of greens, coffVc-women, ^ *• fpicerjr-mcn's affiiUnt-cIeikS) ewry-men, ewry-men's oes the maimaining fuch a i « ber of idlers fuit the prefent ftate of our finances ? When »* frugality be neceffarv, if not now ? Queen Anne gave aii hun- <» drcd thoufand pounds a year to the public fervice.* We pav '( debts on the civil lift of fix hundred thoufand pounds in one arti- •« cle, ixj'iCh:?:* nfiing honu there comes to be a deficiency. *'\ The followine converfations on the fame fubjeA, between the late princefs of Wales and Mr. Dodington, cannot fail to excite the attention and furprife of every reader. "She," the princefs, " faid, that notwithftanding what I had meutioncd of the king's *• kindnefs to the children, and civility to her, thje things did not " impofe upon her; that there were other things which (he could uot <* get over, ibe viflied the king was Icfs civfl, and that he put left *• of their money into his own pocket ; that he got full tlmQr thou- K * The reader may be acquainted with the progrefs and termination of thii aA of . iiiv»l muDificence, ^ confulting Anecdotes of tiMt Earl of Chaihim, ^arto cditioo, vol. it. p. 50 i Political Difquifitioni, vol. tl. p. 128. ' ( 70 \ t* ft « j^nd pounds per annum, by the poor prince's death. If he would Jiave given them the dutchy of Cornwall to have paid his debts, it would have been fomething. Should refentments be carried beyond the grave T Should the innocent fufFer ? Was it becoming fo great a king ta leave his /on' s debts unpaid ? and fuch inconfiderable debts ^ I aikcd her what ihe thought they might amount to ? She ani'wered, fhe had endeavoured to know, as ncaif as a perfon could properly enquire, who, j)ot having it in her power, could not pretend to pay them. She thought, that to the tradefmen and fervants, they did not amount to ninety thou- ** fand pounds; that there was fome money owing to the carl of « Scarborough, and that there was, abroad, a debt of abcMit feven- ♦* ty thoufahd pounds. That this hurt her exceedingly, though «< (he did not fliew it. I faid that it was impoffible to new-ma£e ** people ; the king could not now be altered."— <* We talked of the king's accumulation of treafure, which 'flic « reckoned at four millions. I told her, that what was become of it, " how employed, where, and what was left, I did not pretend to " guefs ; but that I computed the accumulation to be from twelve to fifteen millions. That thefc thi^s, within a moderate de- gree, perhaps lefs than a fourth part, could be proved beyond all pijjibility of a denial; and, when the cafe ftiould cxift, would be publilhed in controverfial pamphlets."* In 1 7 5^1 Mr. Pitt had a conference with the duke of Newcaftle, which has been recorded by Mr. Dodington. A fliort fpecimen may ferve to (hew how the Britifh nation has been bubbled by go- vernment. *< The duke mumbled that the Saxon and Bavarian fub- fidies '/ere offered and prejfed, but there was nothing done in them ; that the Heflian was perfe<5tcd, but the Ruffian v/as not ** concluded. Whether the duke meant unfipfned, or unratified, «*'We cannot tell, but we underftand if is figneJ. When his grace *' dwelt fo much upon the king's honour^ Mr, Pitt afked him, " what, if out of the F I F T E E N millions iMhich the king hadja'^: d, " he (hould give his kinfman of Hefle one hundred thoufand *' pounds, and the czarina one hundred and fifty thoufand pounds, *< to be off from thefe bad bargains, and not fuffer the fuegeftions, " fo dangerous to his own quiet, and the fafety of his family, to be •< thrown out, which would, and muft be, infilled upon in a debate «* of this nature ? Where would be the harm of it ? The duke had *« nothing to fay, but defircd ihcy might talk it over again with ** the chancellor; Mi. Pitt replied, he was at their command, ** x\\o\i^ nothing (otdd alitr his opimon,*'\ The reader will hero obftTvc, that thirty-fcven years have elapf- cd fincc Georg;the Second had favcd fiftken millions from -" Doiltngtnii's Memoirs^ p, 167 and 290. •re ii^ii! utip.;iJ. t. IbiU. p. 37j. Thefe dcbu of the prince ot Wa!c« ( V ) the civil lift. It has been faid above, that a furo, at five pr tent, ol^ J compound intereft, doubles itfelf in fourteen years and an h|ii and five days. Now, at this rate, thefe fifteen millions uoulij^ ir thirty- feven years, have multiplied to more than ninety-one mil- lions and an half. It is indeed true, as Mr. Dodirgton fays, tha^,' we cannot tcil fwhat has become ofity or hoiu it has h^en employ cd^ but^l welknow that no part of it has been applied to the fervicc of the nition. Wehave fince paid feveral large arrears in.'o which the ci- vil lift had fallen, and an hundred thoufand pounds pcraf/Kum, have been added to the royal falary. At the fame time, the nation has been b<^rrowing money to pay that falary, the expences of Gibraltar and Cafiada, for the fupport of the war fyftem, and other matters, nominally at three or four per cent, but in reality, fometiracs at five and an hdMper cent. To thefe fifteen millions, we may fafely add a million for the expences of coUedingit from the people, and let us again revert to the principle, that a fum taken from their purfes, brings a real lofs of ten percent. At this rate of compound intereft, the fixteen millions wouM double themfelves once in feven years and fifty-three days, or five limes in thirty-feven years and nine months. By this royal manoeuvre, the public hath loft five hundred and twelve millions fterling. Thefe fixteen millions, if left in our pock- ets, would have made the national debt as light as a feather, and all our taxes, a trifling burthen. Great part of the money, if not the whole, was fent to Hanover, and thus utterly loft to Britain. 1 he princefs dowager of Wales, mother to George the Third, once obferved .o Mr. Dodington, that "She wiihed Hanover " in the fea, as the caufe of all our misfortunei^'' Since the year 1714, Britain has been dragged after that clcdoratc, like a man of war in the tow of a bum-boat. Hence the royal accumulation of fifteen millions fterling; and •* hence it follows of neeeftlty, t^t " vaft numbers of our people are compelled to feek their livelihoW*'"^ by begijing, robbing, ftealing, cheating, pimping, flatteriug, fu- borning, foifwearing, forging, gaming, lying, fawnir l- , hector- ing, voting, fcribbling I^^r-gazine. poifoninij, whorit -, canting, «' libelling, frc -thinking, : ' the Hkc occupations."* The fum above ftated, might have been employed in r'.^aring, and planting the wafte lands of firitain and Ireland. In Ham^.ftiirc, there •N • Gulliver"* Travels, part iv. To this enumeratior may be zAAtA franking, in '763, t! . iirouhtof franked le'/tisrs was, one hundaJ. and feventy tlioutand, W\t\ 'lurd.ci pound;; Btacic- lloie's Commentaries, book I. chap. 8 \i that ti m <\it twr hoiifc; of parli«« ment contained, perhaps, feviu hundred imd fifty members, lo- FngliO! peers vi-ere Jefs numerous then, than tney are now. At a medium, ihis fum v^lM equal lu an annuity ot two hundred and twenty-fevcn pounds, twclvt(hiilingjftcriin(,ltircacl> nfHin;^-.. Some commoners paid the wagesof their footmen '•ith rrni.k-, it lialf a'Ttivvn //r- urcn. About fixteen years ago, Sir Robert Hemes, r, baiike- in Lndoi 'ai t: \ .1 fe..t an member for the five Scots boroughs, included .n thr 'Hrtri''^ of '^v .t.'- ' H" , b- je£t waifaid tobe, the faving of poftage on all letters directed .. his oflic Thi» <( (t It I t^a^ of land, about ten or twelve miles fqOare, all in one body, iti^tOiies in a ftare of nature. Salilbury plains are covered with :r-parks. in an extent of about fixteen miles long, and 6ve E'^imilcs broad, we meet with five lodges, where the deer throng in |^'^ouds, and are regu!?rly fed.* Other examples of thcianv? i:ht '\ ihight be given, even in Englandt though that is by far t/uv oi ij!^ , ' {)opiilous ai.d heft cultivated part of the three kingdoms. Ms*^ arge tradts are ftill fufFered to lie in commont, that is, in natural gfASiS), 'wiiich would produce ten times their pretent value ol <-r(^i iipto. perly ploughed and manured. As to Scotland and Ireland, ftesi- cighths of the foil is at this moment m a ftatf of nature not the fmatif.^ft attempt having ever been made for iit; jmprovcapaK. Six miles bolovv Dumfries, and about a mile from a feat of^ferd Scoi- roon,' s, there is an extent of four or fivi miles fijuaire, fooncctmes covered by the tide, which I, as broke in upon it withlu tht la't ifift/ y?ars. It is furrouriU-'d on two fides by dryland^ and could be eaft'. \y recovered from 'olwsy Fath. The fleech i&aow carried oif iii large quantities for rr.-mur' - At Kho. fame tt^e* we are fighting for illands in th^- We(Ulnc!;>s. Hkc the dng in the fable, who dropped the fubjiarii.', while fodiping iit ikit jS^ yr t us juftly might v-^ : feel attachment to the ium'i '-Ho .■% him for the market. * Thcfe p4rtij:u!ar8 are in. ,iiEaon the authority of a refpe!iS-g?; uemanjwell acquainted with that part of England. Itwasftated, fomelime^, n the public f mils, that Ke duke of Bf;. silt. We look back without fatisfa^Hoiii and forward w{ Aope. . Lord Chefterficld informs uS) that ingly hurt even, even by the weak oppofition which he met with mS ^^ jptrliamenti on account of fubfidies ; and could not help complaio- ^g to hb moft intimate friends^ that he had come over to EngW Ki^^oc a beMng king. His Vexation was* that he could not commar isoDcy wimout the farce of a&ing it ; for in his reign, as at pre ieiit, the debates of parliament were but a farce. Such were the ' libc^rdi lentiments of the firft fovereign of the Proteftant fucce£Baii» This kin^^ believed that his fon, George the Second, was aikj oBpriftf , of illicit k>ve. His jealoufy was total to the life of count Konii^piiarckf a SwedHh nobleman. On the fame account his wii^,tht heirefs to the dutchy of Zell, died in prifon, after a confinement of thirty-iixyca^ George the Firft ihouidhave confidered this accident^ if real} as a rvwiptw/Mw rather than a carruptim of the royal blood. Foe tradition repor^ that j&/r tfovff mother* thejprincefs Sophia, botet a refemblance to £|btabethj n^aiden queen of England. Like that illuftrious and admired foverci2;n,Sopni9, by the incredible number of her male favourites, attefted the'^rdour of her fenfibility, and the robuftnefsof her conftitution. The quarrel between George the Second, andhisfon Frederick, prince of Wales, father to George the Third, arofe from a different caufe. It lafted for more than twenty years, and will be explained in my fuccceding hiftory of the reign ofGeorge the Second. It was carried to a dreadful height. When old qneen Caroline was dying* Frederick requefted permiflion to fee her. Hii mother refufed ac» ccfs to her fon, and expired without an intehriew. Fifteen yean after, Frederick himfelf died, and Dodington has (^iigcd us witli j fome anecdotes of his burial, fiy thefe we learn, Jiat ^leorge cnidff*^ ed a dinner to the courtiers who attended it. ^The folrot part of the account which Dodington gives of this affair. ' ' At feven o'clock, I went, according to the order, to the " houfe of lords. l*be many flights that the poor r^^ipiins of a " much loved friend and mafter had met wifbi •* now preparing the laft trouble he could give Jb, « me fo low, that for the firft hour, I was incapaM^\ " obfervation, "^ ** Th .^ pKOc r.Tion began, and (except the lords appointed to heflicl * ** th* xli, aiul atijad the chief mourner, and thofe of his own do» « T*c.(ics,) when the attendants were called in their ranks, t^ere ** was not one Engliih lord, not one bifhop, and only one MftifHf^ ** two fons of dukes, one baron's fon, and two privy counftflbti," of whom the author was onct ** out of theie gMat bodies, ro make ** a fhow Dt duty to a prince fo great in rank and expectation. ** White we were in the houfe of lords, strained very hard, as it hai^ « done aUtbefeafon; when we came mto Palace- Yard, the way to (7^ ) thc^ Abbey was lined with foldiers, but the managers had not af- forded thefmalleft covering over our heads; but by good for- ^ tune, while we were from under cover, it held up. We went *»^ in at the fouth-eaft door, and turned (hort into Henry the Se- «* vcRth^s chapel. The fervice was performed without either an- ^ ' *' them or organ. So ended this fad day — There was not the at- " tention to order the green-cloth to provide them a bit of bread^, ^ and thefe gentlemen, (the bed-chamber of the late prince,) 0: the firft rank and diftinftion, in difchajging of their laft fad dut) I" to a loved and loving matter, were forced to befpeak agrtai rdd ** dinner from a common tavern in the neighbourhood. At three « o'clock, indeed, they vouchfafed to think of a dinner, and or- ** dead one but the dif grace ijuas compUat ; the tavern dinner was ^ « paid for, and given to the poor. N. B. The duke ol Somerfet f «* was chief mourner, notwithftanding the flourilhing itate of the t • royal family.*" ' • Dddiagtoa's Diary, Dublin edition, p. 7a. <•% '%k CHAPTER V. tdnaardt, — Hd'wardllt. — Hmry V. — Condtiii of Britain in 'various qitartert of thi fiwrlj — Qtalieite — Guinea — Nmh- America — The Ttrjey Prjfup Ship — Bengal — General ejiimate of DeJiruEtion in the AT home EnglJlhmen admire liberty, but abroad they have always been harfti mafters. Edward the Firft conquered Wales and Scotland, and, at thediftance of five hundred years, his name is ye* ftmemb^red in both countries with traditionary horror. His Xht , Bla ttchievements of this dfteftable barbarian. « The Knglifh Jitfimian « was one of the wifefl and moft fortunate princes, that ever fat '* upon the throne of England. In him were united, the prudence *« and forefight of the ftatefman and legiflator, with the valour and <* ttlagijanimoii" fpiritofthchero."* Edward made war in Palef. tine and in France He butch'*red fome hundred thoufan^n « f thp Wf Ifh and the Scof«. He wa conftantly at variance with hi? t . fubjcfts, and exerted every petty fraud to ftrip them oi t'lMi pji • Hiftoly of the Public Revenue, part i. chap. 6. fe the man fat •nee and M" u ( 15 ) perty. The fpoil tbos obtained) was expended wimjcqiliklcl nalky. We Ihudder id think of a domeftic murder niN^t w^K^ii crowned robber, whofe underftanding is perhaps uneqfjil. to & oiHce of a poft-boy, fends an hundred thoufand brave meir'Nli^^t]!!;" field, to defolate provinces? .nd hew nations down like 0x1^ call it Glory. Thus common fenfe and humanity are oblitertt< a rhapfody of words. If Edward the Firft, as a private man, murdered a fingle Scot or WelOiman, the world would have a£^ in thinking that he deferved the gallows. But when he o»/y, upofl(^ the moft hateful pretences, butchered three or four hundred thoufand people, we are fummoned, at the end of five centuries, to admire *^ his wifdom, his good fortune, his valour and magnanit " mity." As to his lai/dsmt it is hard to fay what Engnhd gilined by his viftories. The Welfh were independent or thereabouts, in the reign of Henry the Fourth, an hundred years a^er the death of Edward, fo that the merit of fubduing them is to be placed fome- where elfe. The Scots re«rolted in the life-time of this Edwara. He died on a journey to Scotland, for the facred purpofe of extir- pating the Scots nation. He would have been much wifer if he had llaid at home at 6rft, and faved himfelf the trouble of an impradicable conqued. As to the domeftic legifiation of this JuJUniafii he hang- ed two hundred and eighty Jews in one day. '* Above fifteen thou- «* fand were plundered of all their wealth, and baniflied the ki:sg- *f dom."* The fame writer fays, tha( thrfe enormities wereciw*- n|l}tted under various pretences, Edward iirli introduced tonnage alH|j}Oundage, duties on imports and exfxtltt. He m^z^ m t^tf tcImPH a fcourge to the human race. * £dwiil>d the Second warned to live at peace, and Sir John Sinclair tells us, that his reign is iem;irkable fxn ** the wconmbrable taMll «* Tcvied." He was fond of the fociety of fom? compankie^ «i(i|| all the hiftorians ti\ention this mark of good natU/ e, its a very ^tdtP weaknefs, if not u a brn emphatic&'iy termed, drove the French into rebellion, ||iati the Englilh out of the couatry. Th"» conque((, and fubfequent||pulfior, firft planted i\vc feedb of tkv btot^l antipathy ♦ Hiftoryr' the Public Rcvirue, pan i, chap. 6 f Ibid. '*;♦. "■•V i ii 1 Mrtfie^Ffench^eioplQ, by WhickEhgland has been too aiuch diftm.' Ferox Britannus viribut afttehac, GalKf<[ue femper cladibus imminena. BUCRANAM .^<^ TRc Eriton, formerfy k:r,',,, in his ftrength, and aJnrlAll * >||enacing calamities t<> France. ' Englifhmen pretend to ht tpod of the horrid ravages committed in that conntnry %y Mward J*c T^ird, by his fon, and l^ Henry the Fifth. i!htjuf- tree of their claims nas long; been given up; and yet we are desifened atbotir their «v^|ct. Engliflimen prattle on ^r-^r* perfidy, afid of fBckingin^itn^tjteir mother's milk, rrihoMclt hatttu for that ' greateft oflptioiTS^ '!^he French wars of Edward tH^'^rblrd, and Henrr thelnfti^ '^^mkcA was plainly the ag^;reifor ; m the coun- try) fo far |ta iolamg pride in their vi^ones, oaghl!^ if poffible, ^1®^ ftrpprdTs J&, '|«rt of its ancient hiftory. Philip de Comincs pla- ces the affeir iu a proper fight. He afcnbes the;_(Cinl wars of York liind Lanical^er, that tucceeded the deatbof Henry the fifth, to the indignation of divine juftice. The inui^|er, by Richard the Third, of his two nephews, was a diminature Hime, contrafied with the atrocity of Crccy, cT Az^incoufly and PoidHers. Henry the Fifth was a two-fbid ufurper. «< If hethoaght," fays Horace Walpole, ** that he had any tiifc to the eronun ofEnglandt his right Vi that o\ er.l|i^anc^<^>l»ijbsvpm^ a firiking monument of thegpimiiuiii, feMift-, '"^^'ItHttlaraty of the Englifh nation. Thatdevo^ ifland Ijmd of tne twelfth centtrry, over- run by aT'ei;,of hildt^ fenry the Second. This eftablifhed a divine rJj^tr Sir ^m JDsvis informs us, that even in times of peace, it was a3^udg- fd naifekiny to kil! a mere Irijhman, This acquifition proved ve- ry troomefome to the conquerors. *• The ufual revenue of Ireland," faya Mr. Humci " amounted only to fix thoufand pounds a year. • The queen, (Elizabeth,) though with much repining, commonly *• added twerrtjt thoufend pounds more, which me remitted from " England.'* The Jupremacy was, at heft, a lofing bargain. la war, afiairs were, ot courfc, an h ndred times worfr. Sir John Sinclair fays, that the rebellion c Tyr ne, which la{ted for eight years, coll four hundred thouiind pi, ^nd^/^r «»««». In > TOO, fix hundred thoufand pounds were fpent in fix months^ and SirlRc!.«rt Cecil affirmed, that iu ten years, Irebnd coi^ England three iniBions, and four hundred thoufand pounds fier|in|. This jprofufkm of treafure was expended in fupportlng the jpifeitical con- fuef of a cotmtry which did not yield a (hilling of pM^t to Eng- land, nor pay, even in time of peace, a fourth part of the expeoce of its government* The comblation of infU^ng the deepeft and I \ i r 1 f( r t! « ve- id," /car. (lonly Ifrom Sir Id for III and rland TThis con- |Eng(- JCflCC ^d ( r ) moft snivcrfal wretchetine(k» wa» the total reconl|i|i|t the good people of England. Sir William Pettyi im^|d Anatomy, fays, that in the year 164I) Ireland contact I )466>ooo He addsy that in 1652* they had Tank to 850)000* , ' Decreafe 616,000 "fkBh in eleven years, the Irifh nation loft fix hundred and fixtc thoolaad people. In 1641, they had been driven into rebellkfn, 1 ^ the tyllmny of tlvit Engiiih parliament, #ho condadled Charles Stu- art todbefcaffold. On the incorruptible virtues of that upright^Wlt much noii^Qfe hath been fud and fung. By a fingle votcflby q^fif- cated two H^illions and five hundred tnoufahd acrcs^ gra^d in lie. land. The ve|if>le ifltnd was transformed into an p|i|rn|b daughter* houfe. Ireland, glQiVcnied by an Engiiih refuhlk, migibi navefookedto«^ij wards Morocco, i|« terrcftrial paradife. Compare^ith the tremen. duous mafs of roililf jModuced by StrafiTord, CroiJilll, Ireton, and the '. -tuous doke of Oi1(j|0od, the dungeons of the Baftile, or the profcriptions of a Roman tiiomvirate, ftirink into forgetfulnefs.-i- Neither the reftoration of Cherles the Second, nor the glorious re- volution,J afforded much relief to Ireland. The people contindcd to groan under the moft oppreffive imd abfnrd defpotifm, till, in denance of all confequences, the inniMMrtal Swift, like another Broke the dark phalanx, and let in the light. ^' Tie taught his country to underftand her importitfiBe. At laft Aie lefolved to aj[&rt it, and, as a neceflar}' arrangement, flie aro(e i* arms. En^Uftd faw the hazard of contending wj||b a biiN% «l «»» jured, and an indignant nation. The fabric of tMi^lrfm^remf>l^MK its bafe ; and it is to be hoped that a ftiort tinncii^'d^||mfti eve- ry veftige of a fupremacy, difhonourable and p?rnicio9H|bth tions. As matters now ftaiid, an Iriihman, who lovesmrT^vurftf i-» L . ., * Tliefe particulars arc borrowed from a quarto edition of Cuthn*'} Cfs.injiirt printed atDublin. 1 have not yet feen a copy of the Political Anatomy-^ ■ + Comiift a Review of the Civil Wars in Ireland, by Dr. Curry. An epitooie of his valuable book, will form a future chapter of the Political Piogrefi. \ 1 adopt the current phrafe, but what^/or^- could be annexed to the affair, itk not eafy to lee. An infatuated old tyrant was drferteJ by all the world, and Jltd from his dominions. His people chofe a fucccflbr. This was natural enough, it had no connection with gioiy. James ra» aivay., which precluded all opportu ties for heroifm. The charadter ot the leaders in the revolution will not jufUfy' violent encomium on the purity of their motives. The feleflion of William reprobated veryfoon after, by themfelvcs, which excludes any pretence tOBtach liticat forcfight. Here then, isa^/or/Vftj event, accompli(hcd without an actual fort of courage, of integrity, or of wifdom. When the Swifs, the i^ts, the Annp^j ricans, the Corlicans, or the Dutch, wreftled againft the fuperior forces of defpo-' tifm, that was a fcene of glory. Hut when no rcftAance happentd, the difmiffionii uf a king and a coachman, were equally remote from it. y xongly t,.mpted to wiih that England were funk five thoa- lomsl^low ttie German ocean. In the Eaft and Weft-Iad|es, the condudt of the ** united king, doms" may be candidly compared with the /m/ of Atahualpa. j^lime politicians exult in the vidory of Seringapatamj^. itotchery of the fubjedts of a prince, at the diftance of fix, d leagues from Britain. Yet it wbuld be ah event the mtift [duus both for Bengal and for ourfelves, if Cornwall;s> wid|| 4|| Is myrmidons, could be at once driven out of India. > But what quarter of the globe has not been convulfed by Our aim- Ibitiog^ our avarice, and our bafenefs ? The tribes of the B|i£ific ^ceaii arc polluted by the moft loathfome of difeiiies. 0n the :J^oce9'of Afrita, we bribe whole nations by drunkennef8i,|0Tobbe- f;iy an^ murder ; while, in the face of earth and heaveiijt 'our fena- tors aflemble to fjinAify the praftti:e, Oui brandy h|s brutalized ^yor extirpated the aborigines of the weftern continent r and we have Kifed by thoufands, the furvivors, to the talk of bteodlTied. On an impartial examiftltion, it will be found, that the ^It and infamy of this pra(ftice, exceed, by a confiderable Jd^Mce, that of any other fpe- cies of crimes recorded in hiftory. Iti$-^ii^vorfe than even the pira-^, cics of the Algerines, or the African flave trade ; becaufe, though the two latter have coft millions of lives, yet plunder, not afTaiTmation^ is the ultimate objedi of purfuif ; whereas, a plan, for exciting the Indians to extirpate the people of the United States, holds out no tefflptation, either of conqueit or of fpoil ; and can arife only from a genuine monarchical and parliamentary third for the blood of republicans. ■ Oi^r North-American colonies, including the Thirteen United Slates, foi^m^a pretence for long and bloody warsjiand for an |expeii4it«te bf two hundred and eighty millions fterling.+ We ft3t regain Canadi,^at an immeife annual charge, that ihall be hereafter fifecwed. yThe money is wrefted from us by an excife, iil«rhich r^0Mn the dcftrjaftion of manufactures, and the beggary of m thoufanH noneft families. From the province itfel^ we never *Vaifed, om hope to raife a (hilling of effe<5live revenue ; and the . chief' icafen why its inhabitants endure our dominion for a month longer, is to fecure the money that we fpend among them.lf^'* The mode of condu6ling our war againft America, correfponded with the julHce of our caufe. At the burning of Fairfield in Con- \ ♦ On the 6th of February, 1792.' "J- Hiftory of the Public Revenue, part IT I. chap. 2. ^;':^ The Britilhcommiflioners of public accounts, in their fifteenth report, ftate IJi. Allowing particulars. The amount of cuftoms for I7i!4, in the ports of Que- bili of Halifax, of Newfoundland, and St. John's, was five hubdred and fixty- thrcie pounds fkrling ; theexpenccsofcolle^ion and incidents, one thoufand, two hundred and eighty-eight pounds. ' 1 he charges thus exceeded the iilcome by fevfM ifundred and tiventy-Jive pounds . '\ his is a fummary of their detail. T here feemt tffhave been a-miftake,' perhaps by the printer, in cafting up the figunfs, to the ex- ent of fifty-feven pounds. This trifling circutnftance is only mentioned to ward o£F liarge of mif-quotation. A 1 J i ■■>lr f ' ,, i\ieAicutt << a fucking infant was plundered of pact c ^ <* while the bayonet was prefrntcd to tl^e bread ctiti .mt At ConnedUcul: farms, in the fUte of New- York, Mrs; Callilwi ^,' the wife of a Prefl)yterian clergyinan) was (hot dead) by a tntiflc,e ■ levelled at ^rrj through llie window of a room, in which ; fitting with her children. Pcimiffion was granted to rei body, and then the houfe itfelf, was reduced to aihcs.f .aidkaft, five or ten thoufand authentic anecdotes of the fame^ . i^ifjcriev, a Briti(h prifon-ihip, at New- York, will be loiig re. mefliroeKea in the United States. It is affirmed^ on as goo4 evi. deno||ptthe nature of the fubje£t will admit, th»t, during tKlIaft fix y$|i|(Of the war, eleven thoufand American prifoners dial of' hunger* : and every fort of bad treatment, aboard of that fingl^vef^ fel.^ For lome time after the war ended, heap of their bonei lay whitening in the fun^ on theflioresof Long-Ifland; When thl il- luftrious comfMlKler at Weft-Point, deferted to Clioitbn, no^ins could be moteWfomhig the fervict^ than. his injftant promotion ti rank of a Britiih h^^radKr-^eneral. Philips, and other Britifh ofE> cers, at once adopt&a ihtm as their aflpciate and their confident. But the peninfula within the Ganges, is the grand fcenc, where the genius of Britifh /ufremaey difplays its meridian fplendour. CuU loden, Glencoe, and Darien,,tKe Britifli famine of foyr years, Burgoyne's tomahawks, Tarleton*k:^uarters, the Jerfey prifon (hip, and the extirpation of fix hundred aii4 fiji teen thoufand Irilh men, women, and children, dwindle from a cbmparifon. ^; *^ The civil wars, to which our violent d^fire of creating nabQ|>s ** gave rife, were a[tten(|ed with tragical evcnt|« Bengal was %- ** populated by every ^cies of public diltrefs. la the (j^ce of^ " years, half^he great cities of this opulent kingdom wd& rcnderc ** defolate ; tlie moft fertile fields in the world lay wail^ ao4jf^v> " MILLIONS of harmlefs and induftrious people were, either eXj^jkl " led or deftroyed. Want of forefight became more fhtal than in* <* nate barbaii^M\ and men found themfelves wading through ihaJ '* and r«w,fwh6n|their only objeft was fpcil."X This book publi(hedin|i77zl The author, a Scots officer, returned to India^ after iti publtcd^^t His return to Bengal proves that t6e accufation hercadvdhced was o{ notorious authenticity, and that colonel Dow was prepared to fupport it, at the point of his fword. On the 5th of June, 1 79Z, Mr. Francis faid, in the houfe of com- mons, that the Bengal newfpapers were perpetually full of adver- tifements for the fale of lands feizedyor luant of due payment dfrcve- . nue. He held in his hand twa of thefe ad\ ertiferaents ; the om^ %^ounced the fale oi feienteen v'xWzgtit and the other, a fale of l forty-t'wo. He quoted fome minutes of lord Cornwallis to the fame^efFed. One of thefe, dated the 18th of September, 1789, in^thefe remarkable words. " I can fafely afiirin, that enc't Ramfay's Hiftory ofthe American Revolution, vol. li. diap. 17. f Ibid. chap. 70, % Dow's Hiftory of Hindoftan, nJ. in. p. 7cw ^, fc!ft„ ii0 •.iM!L feLgjy '$ lemtd^tii BSaAtiBtan, u mm- Ajwatk, W4L9 BVASlTf/' Ik Eaft4iMli|^|(iiii» gcnr«rned t«ro bniidred IlKwfsndi four llijiledf aadtwdve ibiH^ mies of equal to cw!oelt» a^rtaiDf the whole ittpubUc tt known to CQ^qprhjenll twtinj'/ff^ miUkmt "^K^fie writeit on tim {mm txt^fi»afXy r«maii» ^i^ "^ jjnf HiiKioibii, wtn /onmfy coliivtted like a ^ ''^ thm*felve$ aie, pe^pd tin 4oft abftemious oC; ir fttbftfteoce reqmieft but, a triflino^ qaantity of rith that of any race of people in Europer Ffiii| the .^etiii^K o^ the oitfivett di^ btAt^ for the noft pwr^, jplfevr AgAcuItaJre ind manafafbrt^ had ar' Wed at s )^|h.$egree 'lion. Frevi' thefe itaportant and combined einfiv) the po- ll^ In4ia fiinft halfe been prodieiojii. Bat} if We fuppofe iy bn^ in proportion to that of Fianoej ai^^i^ fuppofi^tion 1^7 reafoodilet the do^niona of thp £lipndia company i before rht rnmmrnrriiirnt iifTlrirlfli i ni£p0n' have contained .y^r tmUiim* of iohabitants) ind itoiiijgii^rcircuaifiances that e been dated* this compotjMloa h^^mktAtAy not overcharged. or the fake of diftinAneii, we (hal ^Miied by the help of cyphers. puUtionprevioustottieyear 175S - - - 54tOOo»co» >ni ComwaUU, in 1 789, ftatct, that vtm-tlnrj part of t|iit couotrjr* was, at that Hine« a juogte inhabiied by wild beafti. For this jungle, ddii|(|third parti of thefe provin. ^ ^havetoflLMi^oae.lMiirof the number of the ialMbv- i8,ooO|00o liutti whom thMwntained. Ae/m-e their fuUiAipn l»ihe |b-iti(h Edj^bma compan/. This one-half gtota - i8,ooO||>qo ?■>?» '■% ■ 36,000.000 i8,coo,oco .tkhffrom the original population tt number of inhabitants Thast In thirty.five years, that is, from 17581 to ijqit inclu- IvCf there hat been an uniform wafte of people, under thefe mer- ^cimtile fovereigns* at the rate of more thantfwr millSatptr annum ; in l-4l^|icte, THiRTY'Six MILLIONS. The ptemifes, on which this caioiilation has been founded, are explicitly placed before the reader. At to ^>jttftice> he is competent to deciae for liimfelf. THE END. ^#RRAtA.vl, I^*is6. Line i« front bottom, read wm/ on. — P. 10. mdittOi read, If 66. — P. 13. L. it, fror-ii ditto, for nineteen, read, / W^ft^n.*-^, lo* bo^^i Mae, read, 179a.— P. 6t. L. i, fr>m ditto. rcad,ai. r itffr«~IP. Cf. t. t4iyn>« ditto, read, 17I5. Ur^ i • P s* red . of ■■* t1 A: * *. ^ ',. 1, . . *-.' 'f'f, ,. * "'^ ^**p '■.^1 ''V nJfc 1 ■'■ j^- ■rr;,- ^y 11^